Prank War
by NotedForEloquence
Summary: Gumball, Tired of being pranked, incites a prank war between his two mischievous pals. Will he grow to regret this course of action when heart guts get all tangled up in it? (rating may change)
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Prank War

**Pairing:** You'll just have to read to find out

**Prompt:** No actual prompt just chatting with Byproducts about how funny a prank war between fi and marsh would be

**A/N:** I've been promising another chapter fic and I am delivering. I am attempting to be more consistant in the chapter size in this one. I will be uploading once a week on wednesdays! I am still accepting prompts for one shots! Prompts help me to excercise my thinking muscle and expand my creative talents so please don't hesitate to send em my way! anyway without further adeiux. please read and review.

**A/N2: ** I know Gumball's official name is Bubba. Gumball's name will never, not ever, never ever, never be Bubba in my head. Bubba is possibly the stupidest name I've ever heard ever. ever. I hate it. So his name, in my fics, will continue to be Bonnibeaux. Cuz they are my stories and I can

**~NFE**

* * *

Marshall Lee and Fionna were hiding in a closet in the candy palace, exchanging knowing looks and trying to stifle their laughter as they listened to their pink friend exclaim loudly in german.

"Was zum Teufel passiert mit meinem Schlafgemach!?" Neither of the two pranksters knew what this meant but it amused them anyway. They both laughed out loud, Fionna falling onto the closet door and then to the ground as the door gave way. Marshall Lee floated out after her laughing just as hard.

Gumball, having heard the laughter in the hallway, came out of his bed chamber fuming, arms crossed, and a glare adorning his delicate features. His anger only grew as his two chums looked up at him, tried to stifle their laughter, and only laughed harder at the prince who had unwittingly gotten himself smeared all over with talcum powder. The bubblegum prince cleared his throat and waited for the two pranksters to regain their composure before berating them.

"Are you aware of how long it's going to take to clean this mess?" This elicited a fresh wave of snorting and stifled laughter.

"Well," Marshall started, "Fi here remembered your fondness for antiques so we thought we would indulge you." Fionna broke out into loud, unrefined laughter that wracked her body so hard she fell to the floor once again and rolled around not even trying to hold back. Not even a little bit.  
"A coating of _talcum powder_ over everything in my _bedroom_ does not make for antiques." The royal declared hotly followed by another wave of laughter. Perfect pink features pulled into a scowl .

"Ich weiß gar nicht, warum ich mir die Mühe." He growled and walked away to inform Peppermint Maid that the royal bed chamber needed some attention. His anger did not stem from not being able to take a prank, quite the contrary. Gumball had often been the target of many pranks from the more adventurous duo, and they were usually very funny. He didn't take kindly, however, to the fact that they had pranked him every day for two weeks straight. That was going a little too far.  
Gumball wanted to get them back, and he fully intended to. The major obstacle in his way, however, was that he is horrible at pulling pranks. In fact, Each of his pranks (when not guided by one of his mischievous pals) had gone so spectacularly wrong they had all agreed that PG would never, not ever, never ever, NEVER prank on his own again. But the plan that occurred to the candy prince was less like a prank and more like politics, and Bonnibeaux Gumball was very well versed in politics.

The next day he called the adventuress and invited her and her feline companion over for tea with himself and Lord Monichromicorn. Of course Cake immediately began to urge the younger human to accept the invitation. He was glad for this unenlisted aide for two reasons; Fionna's crush on him, that he had pretended not to notice nor to reciprocate, was fading fast, and with it his influence over her, and due to this she was less likely to come to boring affairs such as tea parties, as for the second reason, he had not had the pleasure of the blonde's company without a certain vampire present in a long while, and even though he was planning on misleading her he was rather looking forward to seeing her out from under Marshall Lee's influence.

He went about setting up for the girls arrival putting the finishing touches on the pastries and garnishing the dishes with care and in short time Peppermint Maid was announcing the arrival of Cake the cat and Fionna the adventurer. Mochro tapped out his greeting and nuzzled the bow-adorned cat with love and Gumball turned to Fionna with a bright, genuine smile on his face.

"Good afternoon, Miss Fionna!" He said taking her hand and bringing it to his lips barely brushing the back of her knuckles, a gesture he had rarely bestowed upon the girl. "I am truly elated you could make it." He ushered them all to the table where various refreshments were laid out and they sat down to tea. Eventually the topic of conversation turned to the talcum powder prank. Fi regaled them all with a detailed account of how it went down and Gumball laughed politely. Now it was time to get down to business.

"Marshall's prank was quite something." He said after her story was finished.

"Marshall's prank? It was my idea." The blonde replied looking put out.

"Oh? I was under the impression that Marshall came up with the plan and you helped him implement it." Gumball replied with a carefully crafted mask of confusion set upon his royal features. Cake eyed him suspiciously but the intended party fell for it hook, line, and sinker.

"I can't believe he told you it was his idea!" Fionna said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Now, Fionna, don't do-"

"Don't defend that butt, PG! I am going to prank him so hard he won't even know what hit him. He thinks he can take credit for my pranks he's got another thing coming!" She pounded her fist into the palm of her other hand. "I'm sorry Peegles but this is serious business. I have to go plot my revenge!" And she took off leaving Cake behind and a very self-satisfied prince.

"Just what are you up to, boy?" Cake said, shooting Gumball a sideways glare.

"Oh just politics." He replied with cryptic nonchalance.

"Well, if my baby gets hurt you better hide and hope I don't catch you." The cat said sassily. Cake never lacked for sass. He cleared his throat uncomfortably and replied with a semi-strangled,

"Quite right."

Fionna ran straight home, eager to plot her revenge prank on the wily vampire king. What could she possibly do that they hadn't done together before. She would not-could not- allow him to take credit for her creative genius. It was the only kind of genius she had! Well besides butt-kicking genius, but that doesn't count.

Wait, wait She was getting distracted. Pranking Marshall Lee was the priority at the moment. How should she go about this? Plastic wrap his toilet? Nah that's old and do vampires even use the bathroom? She blushed at the thought then shook her head deeming that prank too unoriginal for her epic revenge. It had to be something that would really annoy the undead teen, possibly restrict his movement somehow? Marshall hates being stuck in one place. But not something permanent enough to make him too mad. Fionna snapped her fingers. She had it! She rushed around the multi level tree house taking stock of what she needed to get at the market. She didn't have near enough string for this endeavor, and she wanted to start at first light tomorrow. She ran out of the house, crossing the verdant plains for the second time that night to go buy bundles and bundles of semi-thick, durable string.

When she finally arrived back at the treehouse it was quite late. Cake eyed her boxes and bags of string.

"And what is all _that_ for, sugar?"

"revenge" she said breathing heavily. Even for a super active girl like Fionna, running clear across the grasslands and back three times was hard work.

"Whatever you say babycakes." Cake said, not caring to get involved. She asked Fi if she wanted any of the left over dinner, the girl waved her off and trudged to the ladder leading up to their shared bedroom. She glanced at her bathroom and pondered whether or not she should take a shower, then she looked at her bed and decided a shower could wait. Her bed was much too inviting and she plopped into it, falling asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Cake came up some time later and noticed the state Fi had fallen asleep in. she gently poked and prodded and situated the human girl until she was in a more comfortable position then pulled some of her furs over her and kissed her forehead. "Good night" The cat whispered before curling up in her own drawer/bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I'm so Happy that so many of you who were with me for my Marshall Lee journal adventures have followed this story as well! And also all the overwhelmingly positive feedback to my one-shots! I hope my stories continue to tickle your collective fancy! If its possible, I'm already even more in love with writing this story than I was with TRRRNMOML and I hope that translates into the words. Also I seriously watch Bad Little Boy like at least twice every day. Don't be surprised if that whole episode make it into this story. Seriously I can't even describe the feels I have for how perfect that whole thing was. Ok, ok I'll stop this long rambling train to nowhere and let y'all get on with reading! PLEASE REVIEW!**

* * *

Fi woke before the sun was even up next morning and began to pack all the string into manageable packages for carrying to the vampires humble abode. She trudged across the Verdant Planes, through the Candy Kingdom, towards the Lost cliffs and the rocky canyon where Marshall Lee hid his home.

While in the candy kingdom a kind candy person offered her a wagon, which she gratefully accepted and continued her trek. When she finally got to the mouth of the cave and hauled every last bit of string up she was _exhausted._ That vampire better flip out or she would.

She let herself, quietly, into his house, making sure to shut the door without so much as a creak, and thanked her lucky stars that she'd been hanging around the vampire so much, which meant he was attuned to her presence and wouldn't wake up sensing a threat. The girl spent hours upon hours tying string to EVERYTHING she could think of. Well, except breakable stuff, she didn't want to piss him off, just annoy the stuffing out of him. By late afternoon, Marshall's livingroom was a spider web on steroids. He wouldn't even be able to float down out of his bedroom without scissors! Fi was torn between staying and seeing the undoubtedly awesome reaction and possibly getting her butt handed to her, or leaving a note that marked this as her handiwork. The girl deliberated a little longer and chose not to stay. She scrawled out a cheeky little note and left it on the kitchen table, taking off for home well before the vampires usual waking hours. When she arrived back at the tree fort she was tired and hungry and maybe a little stinky, but she was satisfied and that's all that mattered so she grabbed some left overs from the fridge, ran herself a bath, and vegged out.

-

Marshall Lee woke up that evening still in good spirits from his fortnight of pranks with his best bud. He rubbed his eyes and rolled over his bed and floated lazily to his bathroom where he proceeded to get ready for the night. When he finished his shower, he floated out of his bathroom, towel drying his hair and he pulled on some clothes. He began descending into his livingroom while still pulling the shirt over his head when his downward momentum was stopped. He grunted in sleepy confusion and pulled his shirt the rest of the way on and continued to attempt to leave his room. When he was thwarted again he chose to glare down at his feet and whatever was stopping them from their downward travel. He didn't know what he was expecting, but it certainly was _not _what appeared to be a bird's nest of crisscrossed string. What. The. Flip.

He trudged (or the floating equivalent of trudging) over to his desk and searched for his scissors in order to cut his way down to his kitchen. All he wanted was some breakfast. 'Who even did this?' He thought, his aggravation increasing with every second he couldn't find the simple hand tool he was looking for. After a few minutes, he gave up his quest for the scissors and just shifted his hand into a blade. Demon powers were quite handy sometimes. And as the rest of his livingroom came into view, he had to laugh. The whole thing, not just the entrance from his bed room, had been carefully tied up in string. He noticed that the person who had done it had avoided anything breakable, and for that he was grateful. He carefully cut his way through the livingroom, tripping and tangling in string, and wondered who exactly had done this, though he had some ideas.  
When he finally reached the kitchen, he saw the note the bunny eared human girl had left on his table.

"Marshall Lee,  
You're a butt so have some string. My pranks are clearly the best!  
Fionna."

'Oh, her pranks are the best are they?' The King thought to himself. Well he'd show her who was the best. This was a challenge if he ever saw one, and it was definitely a challenge he could meet. He fished around in his fridge for an apple and began to clean up the mountains of string that now took up residence in his home. Unfortunately this took him ALL night, and bits and pieces of the string still stayed stubbornly tied to some of his furniture. He supposed he wasn't actually in too much of a hurry to get Fionna back. Maybe he would lure her into a false sense of security. He decided to spend a week and figure out what he would do to get back at the younger prankster.

Marshall spent a good amount of that week in the candy kingdom bouncing ideas off the candy prince, literally and figuratively. The vampire had taken to writing these ideas down and, when deemed ineffective or otherwise lame, he just balled them up and threw them at his friend.

"I thought you were trying to prank her, not annoy me!" The pink man protested. Marshall Lee shrugged.

"Two birds with one stone?" He glanced nonchalantly at the prince and was pleased at the mildly annoyed look on his face.

One day, while putzing around the candy kingdom, taking a break from plotting and annoying PG, Marshall Lee ran into Fionna and Cake picking up candy litter for lunch. He flew above their heads til Fi noticed the shadow from his umbrella. She looked up as a grin curled his lips.

"Oh hey Marsh!" She grinned back.

"Hey girly." He replied with a fanged smirk. She swatted at his foot (that's the only part of him she could reach) and frowned.

"Don't call me girly, _Marshmallow_" he chuckled and lowered his feet to the ground uncomfortably close to the younger teen and brushed her bangs out of her face, almost lovingly.

"Thanks for all the string." He said, voice deep and eyes glinting. Maybe he didn't get the drop on her in this prank war, but he could definitely make her uncomfortable. Her face steeled as if she recognized the challenge in his voice and she grinned back at him.

"It was nothing dude, plenty more where that came from." She said shrugging and popping a discarded candy sock into her mouth.

"Oh there will be plenty more, that's for sure." The vampire gave another lopsided smirk and kicked off the ground. "I'll see you around ladies" and he gave a short wave as he flew off towards his cave, he finally had his plan and he just had to wait for the proper time to execute it.

Over the next few days he popped into the tree fort multiple times. This served two purposes, casing the joint and also throwing Fi out of whack, making her complacent. Marshall Lee may have also missed the young adventurer, but being the lump he was he would never acknowledge or voice anything close to attachment to the girl. Hell, he would never admit to any attachment to anyone. Attachment is weakness and weakness is intolerable. This train of thought, subconscious though it may be, made the Vampire King irritated. It only irritated him further that he didn't understand why he was irritated and so he decided, in order to blow off some steam, he would put his plan into motion.

He called in favors he had accrued over the millenia from many monster families and basically assured Fionna and Cake would not be home for a day or two. He packed two rather large, heaping boxes full of the left over string and set off for Fionna's place. He hid on the roof til he saw the girls running off to save the day and he snickered quietly to himself, knowing what they'd be in for all day. As soon as they were out of sight he swooped in through the door the girls so carelessly left open and got to work.


	3. Chapter 3

Two days after their initial call to action, the two adventurers dragged themselves back into the tree house. Having eyes for nothing but their beds, neither of them noticed the suspicious lack of furniture around the place. At least not until they had dragged themselves up two ladders and tried to collapse into their beds, only to land wide-eyed right on their patoots. The girls grumbled angrily and rubbed their bruised bottoms and searched for their missing furniture, only to realize that there was no furniture to be found in their whole tree! Marshall Lee was really going to get it, and he was going to get it good.

Fionna half sat and half fell over backwards, annoyed and slightly amused, rubbing her tired eyes. When she opened them she noticed a rather entertained vampire sitting upside down, on her couch, that was somehow attached to the ceiling. All her furniture that wasn't otherwise secured to the ground had been tied to the ceiling.

"If I wasn't so tired right now I'd come up there and kick your butt." Fi said shaking her fist so slowly it was more like a dizzy wave. Marshall chuckled and floated down to her level, reclining on the air next to her.

"Thanks for buying the materials for me, girly" he said in that deep voice of his. She wasn't sure if it was the sleepiness or what, her insides began to curl up on themselves and her cheeks tinged a light pink.

"Don't call me girly, Marsh" she said quietly, tiredly, and maybe with a little confusion. She rolled up on her side and looked at him, the picture of care-free nonchalance. As if sensing the weight of her gaze, he popped open one eye, then rolled over in the air and mirrored her posture, head propped on one arm and legs sort of crossed.

"You're cute when you're so tired you can't stand up," he said chuckling again. She blushed more and looked away. This only made his smirk wider and his chuckle grow into a laugh, a genuine laugh that she was pretty sure he didn't share with too many people, but even with that heart-warming thought, Fionna the human didn't enjoy being laughed at.

"Whatever," She mumbled, her face hot and her lips barely moving, "Can you just get my bed, or something down that I can sleep on?" His lips quivered slightly, she almost didn't catch it, and he floated over her, face down, eyes dark, and voice lowered.

"You can sleep on me," He practically purred lacing his arms around her waist and pulling her close, flipping them both around so she was draped over him. She struggled with tired arms to push away but he held her there, his chest surprisingly inviting, not too warm or uncomfortably cool.

"Marshy, knock it off." She said in what was supposed to be an angry way, but it just came out as a mumbled nothing while she melted against him, grateful to be on something more comfortable than the floor. He smelled good, too, she noticed from somewhere in the back of her brain.

"Fi. Fionna. Wake up! I'll get your bed down. Seriously I was just joking about the sleep on me thing." He poked her face gently but the girl was too far gone. Oh geez. He carefully lifted the girl off of his body and set her on the floor. She whined a little in her sleep for the lost comfort. He made quick work of untying their bedroom furniture from the ceiling and restoring it to the original location. When he turned around to leave he almost ran into Cake.

"I got my eyes on you, boy." she said making a gesture from her eyes to Marshall. He just scoffed and rolled his eyes at the over protective cat.

"Whatever, cat," he said with a fangy smirk, "It's just a joke."

"uh huh." she said, disbelief dripping from the word as she crossed her arms. Marshall just blew past the cat and down to the living room where he'd left the sleeping blonde. He picked her up and placed her in her bed and took off for home. Messing with that girl was too much fun, but it's not something the oversensitive feline would ever understand, nor was it something he wanted to try to explain. Not to the cat, not to anyone.

Fi woke up pink-faced and disheveled, but in her own bed. She remembered the night before with a bit of apprehension and just brushed it off as some of Marshall Lee's mischief. There was no way that anything like... well, like that would ever happen between the two of them. Marshall just wasn't interested. Fionna paled and shook her head and amended that she wasn't interested. Definitely not. All romance did was tug on her heartguts and mess with her head. Especially one-sided romance. She'd been there and done that and was not going to do it again. Definitely not. Definitely. Not.

When she went down stairs she heard singing from the kitchen and smelled the delicious, mouth-watering aroma of bacon pancakes. She definitely needed this this morning. Sometimes Cake was the best, also her sixth sense about this kinda stuff sometimes bordered on creepy, but Fi just chalked it up to being a cat thing. They spent the rest of the day taking their furniture down from the rafters and discarding all the string. She couldn't reuse the string again, that would be lame.

She pushed all thoughts of the scheming vampire out of her head for that day. Thinking about him was making her head all weird. She shook her head and decided to go see PG and see if she could help him out with anything. Cake decided to go with her in order to see her boyfriend, and Fi was happy to have a travel companion. They split where the road branched off to Mochro's quaint little barn home and Cake urged her friend to be safe and come home by midnight. Fi just scoffed and told Cake she could take care of herself, and continued to the candy palace.  
The adventurer was let in by the banana guards and told PG was in the royal kitchen baking up "the most perfect cookies ever". She thanked the guards and was quickly on her way to the kitchen.

"Hey PG what's crack-a-lackin'?" Fi asked the pink man as he bent over to take his latest batch out of the oven. He stood back up with a triumphant laugh and turned to the human girl.

"Oh you've arrived at just the opportune moment! Try one of these cookies and tell me what you think!" He over-zealously shoved the delicious-looking, steaming treats at her and she took one. Whenever she saw him like this, she felt the distance that had grown in her heart close up a little bit. As she bit into the cookie she couldn't help but let out a sigh of complete ecstasy. Peegles cookies were the best cookies ever.

"It's so good." She practically moaned and held out the other half of the cookie towards him. He was very aware that the reactions his body was having to the sounds she was making should immediately be squashed. That he and Fionna could never be. But for just a moment he wanted to indulge the "what if" that niggled at his brain stem and so he angled towards the girl and took the cookie from her hands with his mouth.  
Fi could only stare at him in disbelief. Never had she seen the candy prince do anything so unrefined, so personal. She blushed and coughed a little and brushed it off as the child-like delight he had when baking. He continued to chatter about baking and other things of a similar nature but Fi's brain was gone. She had come here, to the relative ease their relationship had slipped into, only to be thrown for a loop again. She figured it was an honest mistake, that Gumball was just over excited, that she was just imagining things because of the last little lingering bits of her broken crush on the unattainable candy royal. She held firmly to those ideas and did her best to be engaging and interested in their conversation.

"...and then you stir just until the batter is combined. It doesn't look right but it came out so perfect!"

"That's awesome PG." she tried her best to sound interested but she just couldn't. He looked at her with a worried expression and she offered him a smile.

"Actually I think I'm just gonna go home." And she slipped off the counter and ushered herself out of the candy kitchen and out of the palace, dragging her feet all the way home.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Hello you lovely, lovely people you! I know that most of my followers are FioLee shippers and I assure you that I am as well, but this is going to be a long story. Long stories are kinda like journeys. Like journey's the way isn't fun unless its paved with twists and turns. So please don't run away just because of a little ship here or there. Please be patient and you'll eventually get to the awesome. (AKA Please don't abandon my story because my FioLee is hiding behind some FionnaXFP) ((FLAME PRINCE HAS A COOL CHARACTER DESIGN OK!? DON'T JUDGE)) Also, please review! Because it inspires me and an inspired NFE makes more posts!

**~NFE**

**A/N2: **Hashtag: If you do draw some fluff from my stories pm me the link! I;d love to see it and thanks so much for your kind words.

* * *

A few days had passed and Cake had noticed Fi was in a slump. Not even Cake's famous bacon pancakes had been able to cheer up the girl. She tried to get her to open up, but true to her form she would just laugh it off and tell Cake that everything was fine, she was fine, nothing was wrong.  
They received a distress call from the goblin kingdom. Apparently there was a giant fire and they couldn't put it out themselves. Cake told Fi and she grabbed her adventure pack and her favorite retractable crystal sword, a gift from Gumball after the one from the Ice Queen turned out to be a fake, and they took off for the goblin kingdom.

When they got there, Cake quickly began to stretch into a giant basin and collect water from a nearby lake as Fi beat some of the nearest flames with a blanket from her pack. She thought she heard an angry voice from the flames, but it was fire and fire certainly couldn't talk so she didn't bother stopping Cake from dumping the contents of half the lake onto the raging inferno.

An agonized yell came from a few blocks down where a boy of fire stumbled out of one of the burning buildings and collapsed on the ground. As he fell into unconsciousness, the blaze around them began to lessen and fade, he didn't look so good, but then it only stands to reason that if he was the cause of the fire and Cake had dumped a whole lake on it, he would be hurt. The girl, against better judgement (that she didn't actually have, she had never met a fire elemental before) , picked up the poor boy and took him safely out of the goblin village.

"Cake! Cake! What do we do?" The young girl called desperately to her shape shifting friend. She stretched over from where she had been talking to some goblin citizens, assuring them that the problem would be taken care of.

"I say we leave that boy somewhere to recover on his own! He was attempting to take over this city." Cake said glaring at the slowly recovering humanoid flame. Fi brushed the damp pieces of hair out of his face that was slowly regaining its luminosity.

"We can't do that!" She said. "We are heroes! We help everyone in need!" Cake sighed at her idealistic surrogate sister. She was so sweet she was bound to get hurt sometimes.

"Babycakes... I don't think that's a good idea. He's an elemental, a powerful one, and a royal by the looks of it. The Flame royals are evil!" Cake pleaded, but Fionna was having none of it and she stubbornly refused to leave from the injured boys side. Cake sighed heavily and began to gather and build a large fire and Fionna allowed a relieved smile to cross her face. She began to set up the tent she had jammed into her pack. She didn't understand how it fit in there, the tent was actually quite large, but she wasn't one to question what she could or could not fit in her pack or why; she probably wouldn't understand it anyway.

It was about midnight before the boy came too. He sat up rubbing his aching skull, his orange hair flickering atop of his head. He looked around confused and slowly scooted closer to the fire the girls had made sure to keep going. Fi came back from her patrol around the perimeter of the camp and noticed he was awake. Their eyes caught each others and she smiled kindly at him.

"Oh you're awake! How are you feeling?" The boy stood up abruptly and bowed low at the waist.

"Thank you for taking care of me, Miss..." He looked up at her,his yellow cheeks tingeing orange.

"Fionna! My name is Fionna." She blurted, her face also heating up in a blush.

"Miss Fionna." The boy finished, and he straightened up once again.

"You don't have to call me 'Miss Fionna', dude, 'Fionna' is just fine." She said blushing, flustered and unsure of herself.

"Alright, Fionna then" The boy said with a smile. The two young teens just stood there for a moment, Fionna fidgeting slightly under the weight of the silence.

"I'm sorry," the girl stated after a few moments of unbearable quiet, "I didn't catch your name." She smiled sheepishly, hoping the apparent royal wouldn't be too offended at her lack of political knowledge.

"Oh" He said a little abashed, "How very rude of me. I am Flint Ignatius, Heir to the Flame Kingdom." He bowed deeply again, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lady." He moved to take her hand and brush his lips against it, and she would have let him too, but as he took her hand in his, her tender human skin began to burn and she yelped in pain and pulled away.

"So, Flame Prince, huh." She said trying to hide the pained expression on her face and shaking her burned hand. "What are you doing all the way over here in goblin country?" She hadn't even seen him cross the grass lands. She would have thought she'd notice a fire in the grasslands. His back went rigid and he looked a little nervous.

"I ran away from home." His tone suggested that he would prefer not to talk about it, though Fionna couldn't understand why anyone would ever run away and leave their family behind. It tugged at a heartstring she thought was no longer there, but she shook it off. This boy needed a place to stay and she would figure something out.

Soon it was time for Cake to take over watch duty and Fionna to go to sleep. The Flame Prince said he'd be fine out in the open as long as he was near the fire, so she gave in to the sleepiness that filled her up and allowed it to overflow onto her pillow as she slept soundly. Ok so the stuff overflowing onto her pillow might have been drool but whatever.

In the morning Fionna the human insisted Cake help them build a shelter for the Flame Prince . She said it was her duty as a hero and an adventurer to make sure royals were safe.

"Are you sure it's not just cuz you think he's cute?" Cake questioned with a catty grin on her face. Fi blushed and spluttered at her more about duty and junk. The cat just shrugged, glad that for once Fi liked a boy closer to her age, even of he was made of fire.  
While they were building the house for Flint to occupy, Fionna had an epiphany.

"I know how to get Marshall back! But I'll need your help Cake." Both Flint and Cake looked at her. Couldn't she just do one thing at a time?

"Girl that vamp is gonna get your goat." Cake said as she continued to hammer the wood together on the prince's new home.

"But I can't let Marsh get the last laugh! He'll never let me hear the end of it." She whined at the cat. Flint's eyes went wide.

"Miss Fionna, you prank the vampire king? Don't you know how dangerous he is?" She gave him a look.

"Marshall Lee is my best bro, he'd never hurt me." Came her flippant reply. "Besides, everyone says you're evil and I'm helping you."

"Helping and pranking are two different things" Flint said his brows furrowing.

"Well he started it, I'm just finishing it. All I wanna do is build a maze in his house." She puffed out her cheeks.

"Oh sugar, how are you even going to get him out of his house long enough for that?" Cake questioned sort of patronizingly. Fi waved her off.

"I figure I'll just get Gumball to distract him." She put the last nail into the new structure then turned to the fiery prince. "Welcome to your new home, Your Highness." She said with a smile. Cake just watched silently.

"Please, call me Flint." The prince replied, a dashing smile on his lips. Fi blushed.

"O-okay" she stammered, wringing her hands nervously and looking down. Flint angled towards her and went to take her hands in his but stopped at the last second, remembering the pain he had caused last time.

"Can I see you again?" Fionna let out a nervous chuckle and ducked her head.

"You mean as buds?" She stilled the wringing of her hands and braced herself for the preemptive rejection.

"I mean can I take you on a date." Flint amended and Fi's head shot up, a goofy smile on her face and she laughed happily.

"Of course dude!" And now they were both blushing and sheepishly looking away from each other so Cake decided usher things along.

"C'mon girl, we gotta get goin. Patrols and all that."

"Okay Cake!" She turned to the prince. "Bye... Flint" she said blushing. She didn't call any of the princes by their first name, not even Gumball. Some how it had never seemed appropriate. She turned to leave with a smile on her face.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**: So I'm looking for a beta that's good with grammar and junk cuz I get really sick of rereading my stories over and over and over. I know, it seems impossible. But honestly, I do a pretty good job of finding errors but sometimes my flow seems off and idk how to fix it. so if you are good at grammar and junk, and interested in beta-ing all sorts of fun stuff shoot me a message. I promise i don't bite and sometimes (on occasion) i'm actually fun to talk to. 3

**A/N2**: So I'm really bad at sticking to my post schedule... cuz I get really excited and just want to share my story with you guys. but I promise i will always post on wednesdays, other that i'm just updating cuz i'm excited, usually its when i get a particularly lovely review or wrote a chapter i'm excited about (I just finished writing chapter 18)

**~NFE**

**A/N3**: so this is my third time trying to fix this thing. i didn't want to put full horizontal lines in but it keeps eating my usual indicators. i'm sorry that it looks so choppy now but fanfiction is totes butts, hopefully it will read better now.

* * *

"Will you help me out or not, dude?" Fi asked, somewhat crossly, into the phone. She had all the materials she needed and she just had to convince Gumball to be the distraction.

"I suppose... You won't be damaging any of his property?" He asked back timidly. He hadn't wanted to get involved in the prank war, just start it. He'd already had to endure Marshall's insufferable thinking process, and now he'd be playing distraction for Fionna so she could break into his home and construct a three dimensional, plywood labyrinth. This was going to be a long prank war.

"Yeah I wanna get it done by tomorrow cuz I have a date."

"Well I suppose I will help you, I'll call Marshall Lee and-" He interrupted himself in the middle of a sentence when he realized what she had said. "Did you say you have a date?"

"Yeah. Y'know I'm told girls go on those sometimes." She replied, and he was pretty certain she had her cheeks puffed out in anger.

"Forgive me, I just was unaware you were interested in anyone." He said, hoping she would tell him who it was. It isn't polite to pry but he really wanted to know.

"I just met him the other day. Anyway I gotta go. Call Marsh!" Click. the line went dead and he was left hanging. Well now he knew how to get Marshall out of his house, if anyone was more protective over Fi than Gumball was, it would have to be Marshall Lee.

Gumball sighed, scrubbed his hand over his face, and pulled his phone back up to call the vampire.

"Speak." Marshall lee said in lieu of greeting. Gumball pulled a face he knew the vampire couldn't see and let out a small cough.

"Good afternoon, Marshall Lee. I have something very important to discuss with you. Could you come to the Candy Kingdom?"

"Man, Bon-bon, I'm busy. Can this wait?" He wasn't actually busy, just Gumball's important junk was usually boring.

"It's about Fionna." Marshall sighed heavily.

"Fine. I'll be there in a few." Click.

Gumball scowled at his phone. Why did all of his friends find it acceptable to simply hang up with out properly ending a call? It's very rude. He sighed again and retired to his chambers where the vampire would no doubt enter the castle.

* * *

"We're gonna have to hurry!" Cake said as they reached the empty house inside the cave. She set down the materials and Fionna before regaining her natural size. "He may be friendly with you but there's no telling what he'd do to me."

"Psh" the girl replied. "He thinks he's bad but he's not, he wouldn't hurt you." They got down to business filling up the vampires house with plywood.

* * *

"What's so important, dude?" Marshall Lee questioned as he flew in through Bonnibeaux's open window. The candy prince jumped a little in his seat and looked up from the book he had been reading.

"Oh, hello there Marshall Lee." He set his book down carefully marking his page and walked over to a small seating area across from his bed. Marsh waved away the pleasantries.

"You said there was something important to discuss about Fionna?" He did his best to sound annoyed.

"Ah yes, that." Gumball cleared his throat uncomfortably, "it seems someone has asked our dear adventuress on a date." Marshall Lee snorted, clearly unimpressed.

"That's all? Geez Bonnie you gotta loosen up-"

"According to my sources," he pressed on, "her suitor is none other than Flint Ignatius, Prince of the Flame Kingdom." Marshall's eyes went wide and he almost fell to the ground from his relaxed position in the air.

"She is dating Flame Prince?" He said in a dark voice. The pink prince nodded gravely. Marshall Lee crossed his arms and sat more upright in the air. "What's the game plan?" It was almost more of a demand than a question. PG looked sheepish.

"I hadn't... Gotten that far yet." Marshall scoffed.

"You aren't very good at this sabotage stuff are you?" He examined his fingernails. "Well don't worry, I'll take care of it. When is the date?" He looked back up at the other man, a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"Tomorrow." Gumball supplied.

"Where are they going?"

"That is information I do not have." The vampiric teen just scrubbed his face with his palms and sneered.

"Sometimes, pinky, you are just useless. I guess I'll just stake out their place. I was gonna head over there tonight anyway."

"Okay," Gumball replied, ignoring the nickname and the rude comment, "I'll just leave it to you then." The two shared a somewhat malicious grin and Marshall took off to stake out the tree fort.

* * *

Fionna and Cake were working tirelessly, it had already been about 5 hours and they were only like 2/3 of the way done. This was taking for-freaking-ever. The next prank was not going to involve this much manual labor.

Fi went into the kitchen and snatched a fizzy cola from the fridge.

"Cake, are you thirsty?" She called to her feline companion. The cat peeked out from the bedroom with nails in her mouth and a hammer in her paw.

"I don't think it's a good idea to be drinking his soda, girl." Fi just opened the can and took a long drink. She wondered exactly what Gumball had said to Marsh in order to get him out and keep him out this long. She supposed it didn't really matter as long as she had enough time to finish her prank.  
She finished up her soda with another big gulp and crushed the can, throwing it over her shoulder into the garbage. She flexed her fingers, then rubbed her hands together ready to get back to work. This labyrinth wouldn't build itself and time was ticking by fast.

* * *

Marshall sat on top of the tree house. The girls had not come home from whatever adventure they were on. He had searched through their house and all he had to show for it was a few apples to pass the time. He had made quick work of the apples and so he just sat here. For hours.  
Finally, in the wee hours of the morning right before the sun was coming up, the girls came trudging over the horizon tired and frazzled.  
He watched as the two dropped face first into their beds, Fionna staying how she had landed and Cake curling up like, well, a cat. Marshall hid in their house to avoid the rising sun and whiled away the sleepless hours with random thoughts.

Why was Fionna drawn to danger? Flame Prince was made of fire, Marshall Lee was a vampire, and Gum-wad constantly got kidnapped by the Ice Queen. All of those things were potentially very dangerous for a human, even if she was super tough. Sometimes Marshall swore that girl had some sort of crazy death wish. Seriously. And that was the problem.

At least Marshall could control his blood thirsty impulses, and the Ice Queen was mostly just lonely, not really a major threat. But fire, that's a different story. Fire was hot, and dangerous, and, even on the best of days, uncontrollable. If Flint threw one of his tantrums and Fionna was anywhere near, Marshall shuddered at the thought. It was needless to think she would not be merely turned into a flambit. Things like this were enough to keep even a vampire up at night, er, during the day rather.


	6. Chapter 6

Fionna felt like she had just collapsed into her bed as her alarm went off, waking her in time for her date with Flint. She groaned and rolled over to silence the abomination that was her clock.

She went into her closet and picked out some clothes, however most of her clothes were the same. Fionna was of the "if it's not broken why fix it" mentality. With her fresh clothing in hand she took her hat off and shook out her waves of long blonde hair. What time is it? Shower time!  
She turned on the faucet, adjusted the heat, and quickly brushed through her hair with her fingers before jumping into the spray. From down stairs Marshall heard all the activity and went invisible. It would be no good being spotted and having to explain himself. Not that he would explain himself, but Fi would expect it.

He listened as the water came to a stop, and then the scuffling on the floor as she dried and dressed. He wondered if she would attempt to put make up on for her date with the prince. He absently thought about the last time Fi had put makeup on herself and had to hold back a snicker. The young girl was terrible at all things considered womanly. Now, when Cake did her make up, she looked every bit the demure young woman. He only hoped that dreadful cat was still asleep, it wouldn't do for her to be too enticing to the fire royal.

The girl came down out of her room in all the adventure-ready glory that was everyday Fionna. 'Good.' Marshall thought to himself 'Normal is good.' He followed her as she readied a picnic basket with seemingly random things, butter, a package of bread, some cheese, even some marshmallows. What was she going to do with all those ingredients. He mentally shrugged it off. What did he care what the two kids did on what was likely to be their only date.

Fionna messed around, fidgeting nervously and repeatedly checking her face in the mirror, until Flint knocked on the door. She squealed excitedly and jumped a few times before taking a deep breath and calming herself.

"Be cool, Fi. It's just a date no big deal." She breathed before opening the door with a big goofy smile spread across her face. The Prince of Fire bowed low at the waist.

"Good afternoon, Miss Fionna." He said with a smile. He straightened back up. "I must admit I have been greatly looking forward to today." Marshall Lee rolled his invisible eyeballs and almost scoffed out loud. This guy was so cheesy. Despite the ridiculous amount of cheese, she fiddled with her hands nervously and smiled brightly at him.

"Let's go!" She said, donning an oven mitt and grabbing his hand and grabbing her picnic basket with the other. The fire elemental blushed and looked away sheepishly as Fionna dragged him away from the tree house. The vampiric teen just gagged at the display.

Marshall Lee was starting to feel like he was chaperoning a field trip instead of secretly crashing a date and was seriously regretting not just finding the hot headed adolescent before said date and scaring the spit out of him. He listened to the two of them make small talk. The prince made the mistake of asking Fionna exactly how many swords she had. The girls eyes sparkled as she went over a detailed account of her massive sword collection. Unlike most of the other princes in Aaa, Flint did not recoil in fear as she animatedly talked about which swords could do what, what they felt like slicing through things, and the like. Marshall had to at least give him some credit there, sometimes Fionna's dramatic, overzealous love for swords and cutting things with them got even the undead king uncomfortable.

When they reached a blanket spread out on the ground Fi released her grip on the elemental and began to fuss with the things in her basket. Flint approached more slowly, watching the excited girl with a small smile. She pulled the food she had brought out of the basket and began buttering the side of one piece of bread.

"Put your hand out like this" she said to Flint and showed him her hand palm up. He looked confused but complied and she slapped the piece of bread, butter side down, on his open hand and continued to make her grilled cheese sandwich. When she decided the one side had been cooked enough she turned it over and placed the other butter-covered side of the sandwich on his hand. The boys face was caught between anger, embarrassment, and amusement, at his dates rude but silly actions. Marshall, who was watching this whole thing, watched the fire prince closely and, when he'd decided the prince wouldn't flip out at Fi, allowed himself a good internal laugh. That was flipping hilarious. Leave it to Fi to think of the most insulting thing she could possibly do, except she was totally innocent. She just thought she was being resourceful.

Flint allowed her to finish making her sandwich and then calmly asked her to next time inform him of her intentions. Just slapping food on a fire elemental was pretty rude, and the cold butter had hurt his hand. She blushed and mumbled an embarrassed but sincere apology which Flint readily accepted. The young couple ate and chatted. Marshall tuned most of this out. He wasn't there to infringe on Fionna's privacy, just to ensure her safety. After about an hour or two, the two started to pack up their picnic and Flint walked Fionna home.

When they got to the door, the two fidgeted and repeated good byes but neither moved.

"May I take you out again sometime?" He asked, a flaming orange upon his yellow cheeks. Fionna's cheeks colored prettily.

"Yeah, s-sure." And she suddenly wished she could hug him and began to reach forward but stopped herself and turned even more red. The fire elemental smiled and his fire grew a little brighter and he took a step closer to her, as close as possible with out burning her. Marshall sort of bristled at this, even though Flint was being careful it sort of bothered him, it seemed some how indecently intimate. He watched, disgruntled, as the two inched as close to each other as possible and whispered their good byes.

When Flame Prince finally began to leave (Finally!) Marshall followed him. When they were well out of sight and ear shot from the tree house the Vampire King got to work. He conjured up a storm as if he was about to summon the undead and, with a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, appeared in front of the younger boy. Despite himself, Flint took a step back and his breath caught in fear. Marshall smiled, wide and cruel and full of long sharp teeth, and his eyes were glowing a bright red as he bared down on the prince. The prince held his ground, though his hair was flickering in fear. Once again he had to give credit where credit was due, but credit wouldn't help the prince right now.

"We need to talk" Marshall hissed sharply, flicking his forked tongue out like a snake.

"I see you haven't gone soft" The prince replied, the edge to his voice hidden under practiced courtesy. Marshall laughed, dark and unkind.

"And you don't know when to _shut your mouth_." Marshall snapped, baring his teeth in a vicious sneer. "This isn't a two-sided conversation." The younger of the two, much to his own chagrin, audibly gulped. "I don't know what she sees in you, and frankly I don't care. If something should happen to her, I will do unspeakable things to you and your whole kingdom." Genocide was generally distasteful, but the vampire was capable of it, and if the threat of it would keep Fionna safe, he would definitely be willing to back that up. Flint only nodded and, with the same flourish with which he appeared, the menacing vampire vanished and the boy fell off his now weak knees, glad that he hadn't done so with the other still present. Fionna seriously pranked this guy? That girl was crazy. Or dumb. But as crazy or dumb as she may be, she was also wonderful and brave and kind. So he would suck up his fear and hate towards her friends and deal. When the weakness in his lower extremities lifted he got up and continued to walk home.


	7. Chapter 7

Fionna, after her date, was on cloud nine. She only wished that she could touch Flint without fear of burns. Maybe that was something the two of them could work on together? Could a fire elemental not burn things? The girl didn't know and decided to come up with some way they could hug and hold hands and do other couple-y things. They were a couple now weren't they? Or just casually dating? Fionna sighed and flopped onto her back on the couch, her brain floating in an ocean of "what if's" and her heart seemed about two steps from being broken again. She had forgotten exactly why she had sworn off boys only to be abruptly reminded, but the adventure of it thrilled her. It was scary and exciting in a way she was unfamiliar with, but the newness of it all was so amazing. She whiled away the hours before bed playing BMO and snacking.

* * *

Marshall had thoroughly enjoyed scaring the snot out of that little fire brat. He had enjoyed it so much he scared a few more people on his way home just because he could. He even chuckled lightly to himself. He had been so lost in thought that when he opened his door, to go flop into his bed and catch some well deserved z's, he ran smack into the wall of the maze Fi and Cake had constructed in his home. He backed up rubbing his face and sighing heavily. He just wanted to go to bed, he'd been awake for like two days straight. He found the entrance to the maze and followed the path that went vaguely in the direction of his bedroom. He came to a dead end and found a crudely drawn picture of himself in a tutu with "Marshall Lee the Dancing Queen" scrawled under it in large letters. He let out a little, half-amused snort and floated back the way he came and found another narrow path. This was also the wrong path, however, and at the end was written "You really smell like dog buns." This time he laughed because Fi really needed some new material. He found two more dead ends before finally getting out (Seriously how'd she jam all that maze into his little house?) and went to bed.

* * *

The next day, around dusk the vampire found himself heading to Fionna's house. He hoped he would catch her awake. He hasn't had time to actually hang with her since he tied all her furniture to the ceiling, and then she was falling asleep on him, literally. He chose to act like a civilized person and knock on her front door this time. Cake opened the door and let him in.

"Hi cat." He said, his face split in a mostly evil grin. But when were Marshall's facial expressions not evil? That's just how he was. Cake glared at him.

"The name's Cake" the vampire chuckled and inquired after Fionna. Cake motioned to the living area and Marsh graced her with another wicked smile and went invisible. The cat just shook her head and marveled at the company Fionna chose to keep. The invisible vamp continued into the tree house to the second level where she was sprawled on the floor in the middle of a bunch of papers and a mountain of coloring implements, humming to herself quietly. She looked so adorable.

Marshall silently floated above the girl and snatched her hat from her head with a smirk on his face. She sat up and felt around for her hat when her best bro appeared in front of her, bunny hat askew on his head.

"Bleh!" She giggled and swiped for her hat. The older boy dodged the swipe and laughed. "What's up girly?"

"Don't call me girly, Marshmallow!" And she leapt at him, dragging him down to the floor with her and trying for the hat again. He wiggled out of her grasp and flew higher into the air.

"You're gunna have to do better than that. And don't call me Marshmallow, pipsqueak"

"I'm not a pipsqueak, you old fart"

"Dummy"

"Corpse boy"

"Baby"

"Geezer"

"Midget."

"Overgrown rat with wings"

"Ouch, blondie" he feigned a chest wound and looked entirely too hurt. Fi just rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, whatever, Marshed potatoes. Can I have my hat back now?" She pouted up at him.

"Nope." He said, popping the 'p'. "Watchya drawin'?" She looked down at the drawings scattered around her on the floor.

"Well at first I was trying to come up with a way to be able to get closer to Flint, but then I just started drawing cuz it's fun." He floated down slowly and sifted through some of the drawings.

"Why are you so eager to get closer to him? Aren't you like only 10 or some shiz?" She punched him in the shoulder.

"I'm 15 you freak." Marshall laughed, "And I'm turning 16 soon, too!" and then she sighed and sifted through her drawings. She picked up one and looked at it, then crumpled it up and threw it at the trashcan, growled in annoyance, and ruffled her hair.

"I just want to be in a normal relationship! Is it too much to ask to have a guy like me AND to be able to do something about it?" she slumped down, sort of face planting into the floor boards. "Ow." she said without moving.

Marshall, not knowing what else to do, dropped her hat back onto her head. Without moving from her face plant position, she reached up and fingered the hat and pulled it on as best she could. He rolled his eyes and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her up and rolling in the air so she was on top of him. She squeaked and blushed and held onto her hat pulling it tighter and securing it back around her chin.

"You need to relax, girly" And she was on his lap, and could feel the words rumble through his chest, and it was nice. But it wasn't supposed to be nice! This is Marshall Lee, and he's just messing with her like always!

"Put me down, you freak!" she said, a little too high pitched for her own comfort. Marshall chuckled glad that she wasn't depressed anymore.

"You already used that one, Fi." Her blush got deeper.

"Just put me down!" She squirmed and Marshall complied with her request, releasing his hold on her waist and watching her fall gracelessly to the floor. She landed in a heap and quickly jumped up lunging at the vampire. He chuckled and floated away from her as she chased him around the room.

"But seriously, Fi, you're too young for second base." She stopped chasing him, panting, With her hands on her knees.

"What the flops is second base? Cake talks about tiers and you're talking about bases. Can't anybody ever just talk plainly?" Marshall Lee laughed wickedly and closed the distance between them.

"Are you asking me to explain sex to you?" He whispered hotly in her ear. The girl tensed, back going rigid and a nervous giggle bubbling out of her mouth. Marshall's arms snaked around her shoulders and he pressed closer to her, his lips touching her ear now. "Because showing you would be so much easier." Her face was so red Marshall thought she might explode. He released her and flopped onto the air laughing so hard he had to gasp for breath.

Fionna the human was angry. Livid even. She turned to the laughing vampire, drew back her arm, and slapped him so hard he flew into the wall.

"What is your damage Marshall!?" She yelled at the boy, now rubbing his cheek and wincing.

"Oh come on Fi, that was funny. Chill out."

"No you 'chill out'!" He frowned at her, she never used to get so upset over his flirting before. She began to gather up her drawings and put away her pencils and crayons.

"Aw come on! Fionna, where're you going?"

"Away from you." She answered simply, not even sparing him a glance.

"C'mon, girly," he tried to block her path but she went around him.

"Fi." She kept walking. "Fionna, seriously." She stopped and sighed, her shoulders slumping. Turning around she sent him a half hearted glare and he replied with a grin. She was incapable of staying mad at him.

"Just stop being stupid, jerk" he nodded.

* * *

**A/N**: hashtag the link got eated, can you break it up more and try sending it again?


	8. Chapter 8

Marshall Lee was stumped. Fionna had _built a maze in his house_. How could he top that? He would not let her win this war, he was ancient and terrible in his wisdom and she was merely an infant. If she won, even in something as insignificant as pranking, he'd never ever live it down, and Marshall Lee had millenia ahead of him. He wracked his brain, consulted books, asked _Gumball_ (who laughed in his face. Way to be a bro Gumwad), and mostly thought himself into a grumpy despondency.

Well into his third week of brooding, Marshall snapped his fingers. He had it! he grabbed his stack of old newspapers and flew to the girls' place. Carefully he taped newspaper over the door. Just one thin layer. He chuckled to himself and prepared to spend a week or so at the tree house.

* * *

"Marshall's prank was so lame." Fi had her butt in a chair but she was practically laying on the table, arms stretched out above her head and a cookie hanging out of her mouth. "It was _so_ lame I'd feel bad for doing anything back." she groaned, upset about the rather anti climactic turn in the prank war she was beginning to thoroughly enjoy. Gumball hummed in agreement, torn between discomfort at her complete lack of table manners and desire to point out that Marshall Lee was probably building to something bigger than just newspaper over a doorway. Instead he just stared at the cookie between her lips, til a tiny pink tongue flicked out and ushered it the rest of the way into her mouth. The candied ruler cleared his throat, redirected his gaze, and continued to make small talk, glad that Fionna was preoccupied with Marshall and the prank war instead of gushing about the Flame Prince. He'd already had to endure talking about two more of their dates, obviously Marshall Lee had not done his job properly. Scaring a sheltered young boy couldn't be _that_ hard, even if he was an _evil_ sheltered young boy.

"Maybe he was taking it easy on me cuz I flipped out on him..." She said contemplatively. She grabbed another cookie and shoved it into her mouth.

"You "flipped out" at him?"

"Yeah he crossed a line, something about bases and sex? I don't even know." She sighed around an atrociously full mouth and shoved another cookie in her face. Gumball looked appalled. Fionna didn't know if it was her fault or Marshall's and shoved another cookie in her maw, which she could no longer completely close. Gumball's back had gone rigid.

"What, exactly, did you say he did?"

"Well," She said spewing bits of cookie everywhere. "I was just drawing, trying to figure out how to deal with the obvious problems between me and Flint. Y'know, touching and whatever. And he comes floating in, and he totally stole my hat! So I was all like HA and SWOOSH and junk trying to get it back." She was gesticulating wildly, showing how she had lunged and swiped at the vampire and also spraying more bits of cookie. "Then he picked up one of my drawings and asked what I was doing, so I told him cuz I thought he might help, but that jerk just called me a KID. Said something about me being too young for second base. What the glob is second base? I asked him to talk more plainly. I don't understand all this tier and base bunk. Cake and Marshall Lee are crazy. Anyway, so I said to him to talk more plainly and he was all like 'It would just be easier to show you'." She mimicked the vampires deep voice. "I mean I smacked him real good. He went flying into the wall even. But seriously. What's his damage?" Gumball frowned angrily.

"I am very sorry he did that to you. I'll have a chat with him." He said seriously, taking Fionna's hand in his and patting it comfortingly. She looked at their hands then up at the prince, who offered her a smile and she could only blush.

"No PG you don't have to do that, I just needed to vent." She squirmed in her seat, suddenly uncomfortable under his gaze. Gumball had been acting weird lately and she wasn't sure why. "I mean if I told Flint I'm pretty sure he'd have burned the whole world down, and Cake would have used Marshall's face as a scratching post. You are like the most chill friend I've got!"  
The prince internally sighed, of course he would stay his hand to spare her further embarrassment. That didn't mean he had to enjoy it. So he sat and made small talk and ignored Fi's horrendous table manners for another hour before she left the Candy Kingdom for home.

When Fionna was well and truly gone the genial smile dropped off the young rulers face and he called for Peppermint Maid. He had worried for her safety anyway when he found out she was dating the prince, but he hadn't thought of the possibility of the boy quite literally blowing up because of something as thoughtless as Marshall Lee's insufferable flirting. He was quite certain that Marshall could not give up flirting. Well more like he _would not_ give up flirting. It was his favorite pass time. To the vampire flirting was almost as natural as breathing, so the only solution was to send Flint away. But how?

* * *

When Fionna got home her door was papered over again. She shook her head and ripped through it to the door. Seriously, Marshall must be desperate if he was just repeating the same prank again.

"It was sorta funny the first time dude, not so much the second!" She yelled towards the ceiling, knowing he was around and would hear her. With a strum of his guitar he appeared next to her.

"Hey Fionna." He said sorta subdued, his eyes focused on his fingers as he played a deep melody.

"I think your pranking skills need a little work, dude." She motioned at the door. He only shrugged and continued playing.

"It is what it is. Do you mind if I crash here today?" He would do it regardless of her answer, he just didn't want to piss her off again and crashing in her place without asking could very possibly do that. The girl thought about it for a second. Flint was coming over today and he and Marshall do NOT get along. On another hand, it was about noon and the sun was deadly to Marsh and he was her best bud. They were both important to her and so she decided that the two stubborn boys would just have to learn to deal with each other.

"Okay. Do you want my bed?"

"Nah, that's okay. I'll just float over the couch." He set his guitar down carefully and flopped onto the air above the couch rolling over to face the wall. Fi giggled at the obviously exhausted actions and went to her room to freshen up, throwing a "good night" behind her. When she came back downstairs Marshall was fast asleep, snoring lightly with his tongue lolling out of his mouth and his hand on his stomach pushing up his shirt a little. She couldn't help but snicker at the display. In sleep he looked so much younger, so much more innocent, the only hints of his tragically scarred self were the fangs he bore and the twin marks on his neck. She smoothed his hair out of his face and turned to leave.

Upon opening the door she found Marshall had papered it over again and had half a mind to go smack him awake, but she didn't have time and just ripped through the paper again. Flint was walking up and she waved to him, shutting the door behind her.


	9. Chapter 9

Flint liked lots of things about Fionna. She was strong, kind, adorably cute, and above all determined. She accepted people for who they were (even if they didn't deserve it) and she stood by her friends and loved ones no matter what. He really tried hard to ignore that her two best friends were guys, and that they didn't approve of him, he really really did. But it starts to get annoying when your girlfriend keeps shushing you because her demon-spawn monster of a best friend is crashing on her couch.

"Really Fifi, you should have just told him to go home." He said, brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Ok, and I'll just tell you to go walk through a lake! Seriously being a little quieter isn't that big of a deal." His flame was growing a bit brighter and he tried to subdue his anger. He really did try.

"Fine, if your vampire _boyfriend_ is more important to you than _me_ I'll just leave!" He stood up from their place on the ground and began to stalk away from her. She grabbed his arm, burning herself in the process, and turned him around forcibly.

"Why are you being such a butt? It's just Marshall and he's only sleeping." She was nursing her burnt hand and holding back the tears.

"Your stupid _friend_," he spat the word, "is a monster. He shouldn't be allowed near you! Don't you know what he's done? What he's capable of?" His flames grew larger and brighter with every angry word. "He could suck you dry in less than a second!" She slapped him across the face, tears flowing freely now, though Flint was unsure whether they were from emotion or pain.

"Leave."

"Fionna, I-"

"Leave." He reached out towards her and she looked away. He clenched his fist and stared hard at the ground.

"Fine. Whatever." He turned on his heel and took off, speeding through the grass lands leaving a trail of fire behind him. Fi's shoulders shook with silent sobs and she hung her head allowing her hair to flop into her face. A cool hand snaked itself around her waist and pulled her into a cool chest. She buried her face in his shirt and cried quietly. He patted her back comfortingly and generally felt awkward and uncomfortable. Marshall Lee wasn't the type to comfort people. But then again Fionna wasn't one to cry, so maybe he'd let it happen just this once.

"Hey, c'mon Fi. It's alright. Ya wanna go inside?"

She nodded into his chest and mumbled something, her words lost in the fabric of his shirt.

"Psh, I've been called worse." He began dragging the girl back to her house then he stopped and rubbed the top of her head in a way where, without her hat, he'd be ruffling her hair. "I can't get in, girly. There's some junk in the way." She pulled her tear stained face away from the boys chest and looked. She blinked twice and laughed weakly, he had papered over the door again.

"You're so stupid Marshy" she said slumping against him. She was emotionally exhausted. Emotions were stupid. She sighed heavily. "No more boys."

"Is that so?" He replied amused and he lifted her up by the waist and carried her inside.

"Mmf" she mumbled against his chest, eyes half closed. He assumed it was an affirmative and sat them both on the couch, allowing her to slump against him and fall asleep.

* * *

Gumball made a few calls and eventually reached the Fire Queen. He informed Her Royal Highness that her son was in the grasslands, for which she was so very grateful and assured Gumball that should she go to war, his Kingdom would surely be left alone. That was a relief though he was not aware of whatever war the queen thought was brewing. He figured he'd just leave it alone. After business was done, the fire royal said her goodbyes and hung up. Gumball was amused that even though she was evil, the Flame Queen had better manners than either of his friends.

* * *

When Fi woke up, she was still slumped against a sleeping Marshall. Did he seriously sleep all night with her? She was embarrassed. Partially for crying ("cuz crying is for babies") and partially because she cried _on Marshall_ and he'd probably never let her hear the end of it. She sat up and stretched all her kinks out and Marshall groaned. He sat up and looked at her rolling his shoulders and neck.

"You feeling better?"

"Yeah, I think I'm gunna go talk to him." she fiddled with her hands. Marshall gave her a soft smile. He knew too well the feelings of post-fight regret, wanting to see the other person and make everything better. And maybe Flame Prince wasn't his first choice for her but he couldn't deny her what she so obviously wanted.

"I think you should." He said, but it felt like a lie. And he was conflicted. And it made no sense. He ignored the feeling. "If it's alright, I'ma just crash here again today"

"Yeah sure" she went down the ladder from the main level to the door, sliding down the outside of it rather than climb each rung. Marshall waited before floating off.

"You know this prank is getting lamer every time?" She called up to him and she just walked through it, not bothering to rip it all down. He had her! Now it was time to spring the trap.

* * *

"MARSHALL LEE!" She burst into the tree house through the papered doorway in a panicked frenzy. She could hear the angry, discordant twang of a dropped guitar from somewhere deep in her house. "They took him!" She continued, within an instant of her initial scream her best friend was by her side.

"Who took him?" He ask calmly.

"It had to be the Fire Kingdom! There was a crater where his house was and scorch marks all over and- Marshall I think it was a fight." She finished, a deadly seriousness laced with fear and sadness washed over her. "Marshall what if they kill him?" Her fingers curled into his shirt and held on for dear life.

He gently took her wrists in his hands and pulled them away from his shirt.

"Calm down girly, they won't hurt him" _much_ "he's their prince."

"But the crater-"

"He probably did that himself. He's got quite the temper."

"I've got to save him!" She said desperately, forcing herself to keep it together, trying to push or pull her way out of Marshall's grip. It's not like the last thing she said to him was simply "leave". Oh. Wait.

Her arms ceased their fighting against Marshall's and she went limp. How was she supposed to fix things now? She took a few deep breaths, trying to figure this out and her only conclusion was that she couldn't. Normally this would fire her up but now it made her feel helpless. Stupid. Useless. Her legs quivered and gave out, her wrists still in Marshall's steady hands. She gave a short laugh, refusing to cry in front of him twice in one day.

"I have to save him." She said again. Marsh shrugged. He'd reached his comforting quota for the next century and was starting to become annoyed. The Flame brat allowed himself to be taken, why was it her responsibility to get him back? He dropped his grip on her arms and floated away.

"Then go do it." and she was left alone. She looked around, looking for anything really to galvanize her to action. Her eyes fell on her weapons and she began to gear up. Who needed Marshall's help? Not her! She'd do this on her own! How she always did things, with lots of force and determination. Strapping two swords to her back and one to each hip, she searched for her daggers. If she was going to take on a whole kingdom she had to be prepared. She stuck four daggers into her belt and strapped two more to one thigh. That should do it. Now how to combat the whole burning thing... To the Candy Kingdom! PG would have an answer!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: hashtag, I cant see any of the link you sent. try turning the periods into the word dot.

as far as a Marshall/FP fighting scene. I don't think that will be happening in this story. I was leaning towards it but it just turned out differently, I prefer Marshall and FP to be somewhat friendly towards eachother. That being said, I am trying my hand at writing some action so don't be too sad!

* * *

"No."

"C'mon PG!"

"I said no." He continued to make notes and annotations to the paperwork in front of him. Fionna just tapped her foot impatiently. Why was it impossible to get ANY help today.

"Then I'll just go without any protection and burn to ashes, because you. won't. help. me." She replied petulantly. The prince sighed and rubbed his face in exasperation, turning in his chair to properly converse with his (crazy) friend.

"Even if I was _able_ to make this heat shield, what are you going to do once you're in there? It's a whole_ kingdom_ of _fire_. Even the best shields are temporary. Also, Let's suppose you get in and retrieve Flint, how are you going to fight your way through a _whole kingdom_ armed _to the teeth_ with _fire, magic, and steel_?" She waved his pessimism away.

"I don't know yet. But I gotta do this dude. The last thing I-" She looked down, took a deep breath, and pressed on bravely, albeit more subdued "The last thing I did was slap him and tell him to leave." Gumball's harsh scowl softened.

"Fionna... I can't, in good conscience, allow you to go into Flame Kingdom. I know you care for him, but what if you got hurt? Not even Marshall Lee would be able to help you." She sighed, glaring at the ground. Her friends treated her like a child. She was not a child, she was an adventurer! And she was almost 16! She gave a small hmpf, and decided that if her bros wouldn't help her maybe her sister would. Why she hadn't asked the magical cat for advice in the first place was beyond her. Cake wouldn't tell her no!

* * *

She found Cake at Mochro's barn and frantically explained the situation, except instead of explaining it was more grunting and gesticulating like a stupid person.

"Slow down girl, start over." Cake said holding her sisters shoulders.

"Flint was taken, Marsh is a jerk, and PG won't help! I gotta go save him!"

"But, honey, you ain't fire proof" Cake said with an eyebrow cocked and a tone in her voice that said Fionna was being stupid. Fi groaned at the cat.

"THAT'S THE PROBLEM!"

"Well lemme work some of my magic" by which she meant phone a friend and soon a little flambit with a thick accent was making its way towards them.

"Sup yous guys" the little fire cat said jovially. Cake explained the situation, Fi butting in every now and then with loud exclamations. The flaming feline shuddered.

"Well here's the thing. They are my rulers, ya dig? And queeny, she don't really like her son being out and about." Fionna cracked her knuckles and menacingly started rolling up her sleeves. "N-now I didn't say I wouldn't help ya! I will take ya to the edge of the territory, see, and cast the shield on you there, but then yous are on your own."

Fi nodded her understanding. Once she got to Flint he could help her get out. At least she hoped he could. She took a deep breath and drew herself up, and followed this strange fire cat to the fire kingdom to save her boyfriend from the evil clutches of his mother.

* * *

Fionna stood outside the fire kingdom, the heat of the flames so intense that if she were to stand here unshielded for much longer she might start to burn. The little fire cat-thingy that Fi didn't bother to learn the name of begins to chant, thrusting her hands about creating runic symbols. She then proceeds to spit, which lands on Fionna's forehead, leaving a small burn.

"Ow! What the fluff?"

"There, I casted Flame Shield on yous. Also I spat on yous" It looked proud of itself.

"So the spitting had nothing to do with casting the spell?" Fi said, a predatory look in her eyes. The little creature tensed up and then laughed nervously.

"Yous can get in there now, and rescue your... umm. dude in distress?" she rolled her eyes at the flambit as it scurried away from her wrath. She rolled her shoulders, loosening them up and prepared to infiltrate. She snuck past the guards and ducked into the Flame Kingdom, making her way discreetly to the palace. All she had had to go on were a few old maps they had in the tree house. Obviously since those maps had been drawn the Flame Kingdom had changed and Fionna quickly found herself relying on her innate sense of direction and knack for finding trouble.

When she finally came upon the castle, she ducked into it and began to search for her prince. She came upon a great room that, by the looks of it, was the throne room. She was about to leave, not expecting to find the imprisoned prodigal son in such a place, when she heard a _tap tap tap_ echoing around the room. She quickly unsheathed a sword and looked about warily. _tap tap tap_ she heard again.

"Fionna" she thought she heard, but it was very far away... and above her? She looked up and there was Flint, imprisoned in a giant lamp. She had to laugh, he looked like a genie in a bottle. A smile spread across the boys face and he pointed to the wall. She looked over and there was a lever attached to a crank that she assumed was to lower the lamp. She walked over to it and tried to release the catch. She pulled and pushed and tried everything til she just became fed up and kicked it. With a rusty creak and a loud thunk, one side of the chains on his prison went slack and it toppled over sideways, the magic glass falling off and Flint tumbling out. Reacting quickly, her prince-saving instincts having been honed quite well for such a situation, she jumped into action, grabbing the chain and letting it haul her up. When she reached the support pulley she slid the flat of her blade over the chain and quickly slipped towards the falling prince. She released her grip on her sword and plummeted quickly after him, grabbing his hand and flipping around in the air so she had him princess-style in her arms.

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the glass housing shattered and the guards were alerted. Fionna, graceful as the cats she was raised by, landed on her feet and quickly dropped the prince to his, took his hand again, and started to run. Regardless of all the weapons she had prepared, she didn't know how much time her flame shield had left and she really didn't want to have to fight the whole flame army. She shouldered her way through the door she came in and barreled into the first guards she had encountered.  
This is why the Ice Queen was able to make off with all the princes, security was SO lax. Fi resisted the urge to stop and smack some sense into the guards and continued to run. When she rounded the next corner, she almost ran smack into another round of guards. She quickly came to a halt, and stood ready on the balls of her feet, dropping Flints hand and drawing her second sword in one fluid motion. Flint watched in awe at the sadistic sort of delight that crossed his rescuers face. This fool hardy girl was actually relishing the thought of fighting the elite fire troops. The guards chuckled between themselves.

"We are all needed to fight one little _girl_?" Fi snorted, an angry noise.

"I bet this little girl could beat the snot out of you four all at once." she threw back at them. The warriors bristled at this challenge and charged her in an angry rush. The girl lowered herself and charged back, her swords dragging through the air behind her. She was fast and fluid, quickly flowing into the space between two of the royal guardians, twisting and slashing and laughing. She danced away again as they tried to grab her. "Aa, aa, aa boys" she taunted "You're hitting on me right in front of my boyfriend? How rude." they surrounded her now, and she watched them all, waiting for them to make their move. One of the guards lunged first, and she leapt at him, meeting his face to her knee and she followed through knocking him to the ground. She sprang away from the felled guard, drawing a stunned Flint behind her on instinct. She then heard more guards behind her and her brain kicked into overdrive.

"Flint, I might need your help. You can fight right?" He shook the haze of dumb that had clouded his brain and turned around pressing his back to hers, dropping easily into a ready stance. That was all the reassuring she needed, and without a second thought she leapt back into action as one of the original sentries aimed a deadly blow at her with a morning-star he had previously deemed her unworthy of. She fell upon the craggy looking elemental with fervor, stabbing at his chest and hissing. One of the others moved to help and she pulled out a dagger from her belt and chucked it at him. It grazed his shoulder and gained her enough time to pull the sword from the one before her. The third bore down on her with a battle cry obviously meant to scare her, but she only released a mighty bellow of her own and matched his sword blow for blow.

Cackling like a woman possessed, Fi beat the guards back, and Flint followed her down the hall, not the least bit phased by the blood-thirsty, ash-covered, insane vision before him. Finally tiring of the guards, Fi grabbed the volcanic flail the first guard had dropped, and made quick work of the rest of them. Once again she grabbed Flint's hand and ran. The two heard more guards coming up ahead and Flint quickly glanced around, now taking the lead.

"This way!" he tightened his grip on Fionna's hand and dragged her down a narrow passage she hadn't even noticed before. She followed with no resistance as he lead them closer to the door. The narrow passage lead to a maze of doors and passages obviously well known to the prince and he quickly lead them to the grand foyer. When they emerged, there was only a token resistance force there. Obviously the Fire Queen didn't think much of Fionna. Whatever. That just made it all the more easy on her.

She rolled her shoulders and tugged her sword from its sheath and held her captured morning-star at the ready. Flint put his hand on her shoulder and they locked eyes. He smiled an almost feral smile and burst into flames, barreling out of the hidden corridor into three of the guards then stopping abruptly. The guards landed in a dazed heap on the floor and the remaining three began to close in on the prince. Fionna, not letting Flint have all the fun, screamed like a banshee and flew out of hiding, volcanic flail swinging and sword glinting. She caught one guard on the temple (or where she suspected the side of his head was, most of the flame people were not humanoid enough for her to tell) and rode his body to the ground. She landed on all fours and looked up at the other two and the tables were turned. The two youths advanced on the remains of the princes baby-sitters and Flint spoke.

"Either you can let us leave, or 'dance' with her. I assure you, she's quite the deadly partner." He crossed his arms smugly as the two looked at each other and decided they'd rather face the Flame Queens wrath than have to deal with the prince's psycho girlfriend. They put down their weapons and stepped aside.

Exiting the castle, the two ran as far and as fast as they could. The girls blue hue was starting to fade and she was worried they wouldn't make it in time and she'd be burned, or worse fried to death. As they reached the edge of the kingdom the two came to a halt, breathing heavy and thoroughly exhilarated, adrenaline coursing through their systems. Before the spell could completely fade Flint pulled the girl close, holding her hands in his, he looked into her blue eyes and was lost.

It was as if Fionna's lips had a gravitational pull all their own.

"Fifi.." he whispered, his eyes half lidded and his heart pounding away in his chest.

"Yeah?" she whispered back, looking up at him with confused anticipation.

"I _burn_ for you." He breathed, and crushed his lips on hers. She responded in kind, pulling him close, her hands fisted in his shirt. His hands laced around her and it was so _warm_ and _inviting_ until it became too warm, hot even, and she kept kissing him despite the pain. It didn't stop til he felt her tears on his face and pulled away, yelping in pain.


	11. Chapter 11

_'They're battle wounds'_ She scrawled in large letters and underlined it. Twice.

"On the inside of your mouth!?" Gumball and Marshall questioned at the same time. Marshall's hands angrily gripping the neck of his guitar and Gumball scowling with his arms crossed.

_'I don't have to explain myself to you'_ she wrote. If the only reason PG and Marshy wanted to come to her tree house today was to scold her for rescuing and making out with her boyfriend, they could just turn their little butts right back around and head on home.

"Fi of all the stupid things you've ever done, including picking fights with me, this might be the dumbest- put your pencil down I'm not done." He glared at her and she glared right back, continuing to write whatever angry thing she couldn't say. Because she had played kissy-face with a matchstick. "Not even I have ever been dumb enough to _make out with a fire elemental_. Blib Globbit. What part of _licking fire_ with your _tongue_ sounds good to you?" She held up her note and the vampire ignored it. "You could have died. Fi. hey. I'm talking to you." He would have flicked her nose if it wasn't _burnt_. The girl just smacked him with her notepad til he snatched it from her. His eyes scanned the page and he snorted derisively.  
"I don't care if you almost die on a regular basis, _pain_ isn't supposed to be_ fun_." she rolled her eyes and stuffed her fingers in her ears. Marshall threw his hands up in defeat. Gumball shook his head and approached the girl, gently pulling her fingers out of her ears. Fi grabbed her notepad back from Marshall and started scribbling again, and before Gumball got a word in edgewise she shoved another message in his face.

_'I liked it, and I'm not going to break up with him so you might as well get on board with it.'_

Gumball scooped some salve out of a jar and smoothed it over the angry burns on her face. He had to give her credit, she was the most stubborn girl he'd ever met.

"Fionna, at least be more careful! If you hadn't started crying he could have done some real damage."

_'Stop treating me like a baby.'_ He sighed and continued to apply the magical cream and slowly the angry blistering skin was soothed. How could she explain? It had felt so amazing to be held, not to have to worry about burns. And the kiss. It had been her first, and it had ended up painful, but for those first few seconds it has been the most wonderful thing that had ever existed. As she thought, her face grew pink and her body felt warm. Bonnibeaux reached out to put some salve on her lips and she violently jerked away and shoved a hand in his face.

"Stop it. I have to put this on your burns, or do you _want_ to be disfigured forever?" it was more like a statement however, and she shot him a pained glare. Not being able to talk was starting to suck, even weighed against the most amazing kiss ever. She took his wrist and wiped the salve from his fingers onto hers and applied it herself. Peegles handed her the jar and she opened her mouth and applied it to the inside. It tasted absolutely awful, but she really wanted to be able to talk and her tongue REALLY hurt.

Marshall was just watching, strumming his guitar, and looking annoyed. The way these two were acting, you would think they were jealous or something. And as realization slapped Fionna in the face she didn't know whether to hit them or laugh. Her mouth curled up into a sly little smile and she shook her head.

"Whats so funny, blondie?" Marshall asked, "Well besides almost getting your brains fried."

_'You two are jealous of Flint.'_ Marshall's face dropped and Gumball blushed.

"No I'm not!"

"Why would I be jealous of that runt?" they yelled simultaneously and Fionna just laughed at them.

* * *

When the two boys had had enough fawning over Fionna, Cake cornered them downstairs.

"I'm disappointed in the two of you." she said with paws on her hips.

"Tch" Marshall looked annoyed and ran a hand through his hair. Cake was particularly glaring at Gumball. When the prince opened his mouth to reply, the cat started again.

"She really likes this dude, and you two- especially you, Your Highness- are acting like little boys who've had their favorite toy stolen. Don't think I don't know what happened Gumball." The feline said seriously. Marshall Lee was suddenly interested again.

"What did you do Bonni?" Gumball looked down at his shoes.

"I called his mom?"

"So this is all _your_ fault? I had it _under control_. She wouldn't have even been able to get close to him if you hadn't made it necessary for her to go RESCUE him!" Cake cleared her throat.

"Had what under control exactly?" Her glare was now turned onto the vampire, almost as scathing as the sun.

"Keeping her SAFE. Not that I'd expect you to understand but that_ boy_ is an emotionally _unstable_ pillar of _fire_."

"And Fionna is a young woman who will make her own decisions. She's smarter than you two are giving her credit for, Now stop meddling or our next chat won't be so fluffy." she finished by extending her claws. PG gulped audibly. As Cake shooed the boys out of the house Fionna was applying the balm to all the places Gumball had avoided as a proper gentleman should.

* * *

Flint walked up, uninvited, to the tree fort. Would Fionna even want to see him? He'd burned her pretty badly. The young man pressed his hand to his lips. Fionna had felt so good against him, her demanding lips, her clutching hands. She had fit so well in his arms. He wanted to hold her again, wanted to kiss her again. The problem being he didn't want to hurt her, but they could work around that right?

"Flint?" Startled out of his reveries, he looked up to see his girlfriend, fully healed and hanging out of her window. "I can see your flames all the way in here. Are you ok?"

"Yeah." He replied. "Even better now"

"Be down in a sec!"

Fi came out quickly, bursting through the newspaper over her doorway.

"Why is your door covered?" Fi waved him off.

"Just some stupid prank Marshall keeps pulling." she said shrugging closer to him. She took his hand in her own covered one and gave it a squeeze.

"Whats up?" he looked away from her face with a furious blush on his cheeks.

"I, uh, just wanted to see you." she smiled and punched him in the shoulder lightly , probably by reflex. She bit back her cry and shook the pain out of her hand.

"You're so sweet Flint."

"Fifi..."

"I can take it!~ So what do you want to do today?" the two chatted idly, Fionna carefully avoiding the topic of burns until he asked directly.

"You aren't burned, I thought I.. I thought I hurt you." He looked so upset.

"Gumball brought me some salve, and Marshall... well Marshall was mostly being a jerk but they helped me put it on my back and stuff." The prince looked relieved. "Hey, wanna go on an adventure?" he gave an easy smile.

"Yeah!"

* * *

Marshall Lee sulked in his hidey-hole inside the tree fort. Jealous? Him? Of a brat that wasn't even half as cool? _Over Fionna?_ He snorted. Not likely. In fact, he'd be glad when this stupid prank of his was over so that he could go home. Woof. Spending time with mortals can really flip-flop your brain stuffs. Marshall ruffled his own hair, turned over onto his back, and fell asleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** hey everybody, sorry for the wierdness in my update schedule. I have been feeling the pressure and reviews make me happy so i thought i'd change it to twice a week. also sometimes i cant wait to reply to a review but the person who wrote it doesn't have an account so i just update. anyway! Please continue to review! 33333  
**~NFE**

* * *

Fionna got up bright and early, looking forward to yet another day of adventure and fun. She pulled on her pack and grabbed a sword. She was so ready. For what? For anything! She whooped in excitement quickly jumping down the ladder to the ground floor. She opened the door and charged through, now used to the newspaper covering she didn't think twice about it, that is, til she was stopped face first by a solid object that had been set up behind the news paper.

Slowly the table tilted under her weight so she was lying outside her house, face down, on a table. Ouch. She heard his unbridled laughter from within the tree fort where he'd watched in secret as she barreled into the table. Sitting up she shook her fist at him.

"Just you wait, Marshall Lee. I'll get you back! You won't even see it coming." With a pop of his umbrella opening he was over her. He slid fingers through her exposed hair and smiled at her.

"I'm sure I won't." He said in that teasing way, and before she could protest cold lips were pressed to her face and he was gone with a chuckle.

* * *

"And then, as if the table wasn't enough that fluffin' vamp tramp kissed me like a tard."

After the whole embarrassing debacle with the table she had dragged herself over to Flint's newest residence. He found the whole thing to be quite amusing, until she told him about the kiss.

"He's so flamin' disrespectful!" The fire elemental growled, his flames growing hotter. It took all her effort to not shy away from the heat.

"It was just a kiss on the cheek! It's not like we smooched or anything!" She said trying to calm her boyfriend down. "Besides, it's just Marshall, he flirts with me all the time. He thinks it's funny."

"Him doing stuff like that all the time is supposed to make me feel better?" He shook his head, "Guys don't do things for no reason Fi." He said, his voice sort of condescending and his facial expression only added to that.

"How do you know!? You've been stuck in a lamp for glob knows how long!" She said angrily.

"In case you haven't noticed, I am a guy." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Look, Fifi, I like you, okay? You are the hottest thing since lava cakes and you are an amazing person, but your friends piss me off. And then Marshall Lee kisses you and you act like its no big deal." He lapsed into brooding silence. She discarded her glove and took his face between her hands and kissed him on the mouth, quick and hard. Tears formed in her eyes but she blinked them away.

"I guess I'm no good at this girlfriend stuff, huh?" She said softly, a sad smile on her face. He moved close to her carefully, wanting nothing more than to hold her and comfort her.

"Shushers, you." And he smiled at her, "just... Just don't let him kiss you any more. Kay?" Fionna nodded, inching just a little bit closer than was comfortable to her boyfriend. She pulled another glove out of nowhere and squeezed his hand in hers. She had no idea, however, how to stop Marshall from doing anything he wanted, but she would try. That's all Flint could ask for, right?

* * *

In keeping with tradition, Fionna had forgotten about her own birthday. Thankfully Marshall and Gumball and Cake remembered every year or the girl would go on thinking she never got older. Anyway, her birthday was fast approaching and Cake called the guys (this year she included Flame Prince) and got down to planning her party.

"Does it have to be formal AGAIN?" Marshall questioned pulling a face. He hated formal parties, they bored the snot out of him. Quite literally, he'd get so bored that picking his nose was the only way to relieve the boredom.

"Don't be ridiculous," PG countered, "of course it will be formal!"

"Fionna isn't the formal type of girl," Flint chimed in.

"Mmhm, I keep trying to tell that to bubble butt over here but he never listens." The fiery teen laughed openly.

"Haha bubble butt" Marshall Lee grinned, maybe this kid wasn't TOO bad. Maybe. Cake cleared her throat.

"Maybe this one time we can do something a little less formal?" She asked Gumball apologetically. She hated to admit it (cuz her girl Fi looked awesome in ball gowns and Cake herself enjoyed formal balls quite a bit) but Fionna hated formal junk. She only put up with it so she wouldn't hurt the pink princes feelings.

"Fine." Gumball said huffily, unused to not getting his way, "but I'm still not allowing any alcohol." He pointedly glared at Marshall.

"Hey, it was one time and it was clearly marked. It's not my fault Muscle Prince and LSP put it in the punch bowl." Marshall said clearly unrepentant. This time Cake backed Gumball.

"No alcohol. Period." When they try to explain to a drunk Fionna about how there are no little people inside her stomach that need to come out, they can give her more alcohol. That had not been a fun night.

"Are you going to be able to fire proof the place?" Flint asked. They all blinked at him, having forgotten he was fire for a second. It was a challenge unique to this year after all.

"I might be able to make some sort of shield for you, though heat shields tend to lose power after a few uses." Gumball said warningly. Flint nodded appreciatively. He was well aware of the effect he could have on his girlfriend if the shield wore off while they were, ahem, being intimate.  
With all the major obstacles out of the way Flint let the two elder boys bicker about the small stuff.

"Pink decorations? She's turning 16 not 5."

"I'm sure she'd like it better than black and red"

"Why don't we make it blue?" They blinked and turned to the source of the interruption. "Well it is her favorite color." So blue they chose. Though Marsh insisted they have at least a few red foods so he could eat.

All in all Cake thought that the meeting went well, even if tensions ran a little high. She was pretty sure Marshall almost made good on his threat to strangle Gumball. Flint, for the most part, stayed out of the conversation. The only input he had actually helped, and Cake was quite impressed.

* * *

Fionna was well aware that her birthday was close. Her friends gave her zero credit and she used it to her full advantage. She was so rarely able to spend full days by herself that she let the three of them (now four) think they were sneaky. She lounged on the couch, reveling in the solitude, and gorged on ice cream. This was probably the best thing ever. She sighed in ecstasy as she pulled another spoonful into her mouth.

She idly thought about what she could do to get Marshall back for making her run into a table. She was almost out of ideas and it irked her to no end. She couldn't let that blobbing idiot have the last prank. She pushed her hair out if her face and grumbled to herself. Wait a second! She looked at the blond hairs slipping through her fingers and cackled in a deliciously evil way. Marshall lee's hair was his pride and joy, and she was going to mess with it. _Hard._


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** I was planning on doing something silly for April fools day but I haven't gotten to the chapter i wanted to silly-fy yet. bummer. Anyway, my mom is in town this weekend so i probably wont be uploading Saturday. or i might anyway. idek. depends on how much time there is. please read and review!

**A/N2:** Please direct your attention to the lovely scenes from my story hashtag brought to life with drawings because they are wonderful, and hashtag is a lovely lovely person *hearts* (link is in my profile cuz fanfiction keeps eating it)

* * *

The day of Fionna's party had arrived, and predictably they sent Flint to distract her while they made the final decorations. He asked her out on a date, asked her to dress nicely. She sighed when that happened, assuming it would be another ball. However instead of a gown, Cake had laid out a shorter lighter dress that, in all honesty, didn't look too bad. She slipped the dress over her head and pulled it on. It fit her nicely and widened at the hips to swish softly when she walked. It was as light as air and as comfortable, if not more so, than her normal shirt/skort combo. She hoped that this meant her party tonight wouldn't be another lame ball. She loved Gumball but that dude was such a dweeb sometimes.

She met Flame Prince outside the tree fort, tugging on the hem of her dress all nervous smiles and fidgets. He smiled easily and offered her his arm. Tonight he'd be able to be the boyfriend she deserved. She looked at him and then at his arm, full of hesitation. He just smiled.

"Do you trust me?" He said enigmatic smile still in place.

"What?" She said taken aback.

"Do you trust me?" He repeated and nodded towards his arm. She looked skeptical, but she wanted to trust him.

"Yes." She said and hesitantly took his arm, bracing herself for the burning sensation... But her boyfriend was just pleasantly warm. She looked quite puzzled and just stared at their interlocked arms.

"It doesn't hurt" she said in wonder, beaming at Flint.

"Prince Gumball granted me a few shields for tonight." He said happily. He leaned down to kiss her and she responded, fisting her hands in his shirt. He reluctantly broke away. "We still need to be careful, it's not permanent and if I get too... Hot, it will break." She nodded her understanding, a faint blush on her cheeks, and took his arm in hers again.

"Where are we going?" She sighed, resting her head on his shoulder while she walked beside him. He hummed quietly.

"I think you know where we are ultimately going." Flint poked her nose. She giggled happily.

"Well, yeah. It's not like I'm stupid or something. But Cake usually just has us sit at home until it's time to go and then she shoves me into a dress and then we go to the palace and everyone yells surprise."

Flint laughed openly. How could anyone ever think she didn't understand. She was totally smart, and amazing, and beautiful. They chatted and took the scenic route to the Candy Palace.

They passed a glistening lake and stopped to take in the scenery together. The full moon hung in the sky, round and lovely. A cold breeze blew and Fi shivered and cuddled closer to Flint. He smiled softly and put his arm around her, pulling the smaller girl into his side. He wished he could hold her forever. He sighed and nuzzled into the top of her hat.

"We should go Fifi." With one final squeeze she ducked out from under his arm and laced it with hers again and they continued to the party.

* * *

After they arrived and everyone yelled surprise, Fionna excitedly ran over to the dessert table. Flint trailed after her. He looked at all the colorful foods that he had never seen before and felt lost. Bonnibeaux, ever one to boast, quickly stepped over to explain all the foods to him. Noticing the two chatting, Marshall Lee floated towards them.

"What's up, losers?" The vamp said with a smirk and a hiss. Gumball just scowled.

"Flint has never had any food outside the Flame Kingdom, I was just enlightening him about our cuisine." Gumball stated, matter of factly.

"Don't cha know, fire elementals only eat coal?" Marshall said with the most evil yet innocent look on his face the other two had ever seen. Flint was sort of confused. That is until he saw the angry shade of red on Gumball's face. Apparently quetioning PG's hospitality was a big insult. He stifled laughter and picked up a tray of a hard boiled egg snack.

"Oh Marshall, why don't you try some of these?" Flint looked completely innocent but Marshall was skeptical.

"Why?"

"Well, they are called 'devilled eggs' so I thought you might like them." Now it was Gumball's turn to laugh at Marsh.

"Clever, little boy." Marshall said with a sneer but there was mirth in his eyes. Flint smiled back, genuinely enjoying the company of the two older boys. Fionna ran over with a plate (and mouth) full of cake.

"Oh mah glob gufs ish fah greetest partuh effer!"

"Girly, swallow first then talk" even Marshall was sort of grossed out by the display of half chewed cake spewing from her mouth when she talked. She sent the undead royal a glare and chewed some more and swallowed it all in one, (too) big, dry gulp that had her clawing at her throat for a second before she finally got it down.

"Don't call me girly, you bum-sniffer!" Flint and Gumball laughed openly, the former daring to point. Marsh just shrugged it off.

"Oh, Fi, I almost forgot. Your present." He floated closer to her, held his hands behind his back, and there was a blinding flash of light. He pulled it back to the front and it was what looked to be a simple sabre, the hilt was made of a rich, purple wood. The hand guard of the straight sword was semi simple, basically a really wide angled 'v' shape with the ends hooked forward, with a smaller, similarly shaped decorative prong closer to the blade. The pommel had a brilliant purple stone set in a steel square. She gazed at the simple yet lovely sword before her in awe.

"Take it, girly." He urged quietly and she did. When she touched it, the blade itself lit up with runes shimmering and shifting over the blade in unfathomable, blinding patterns. She swung it a few times and looked to Marshall Lee.

"Dude... I don't even know what to say." He ruffled his hair.

"It only responds to the pure of heart or whatever. And is strong against dark or evil creatures." He floated closer to her.

"Thanks, guy. Just. Wow." She punched his arm lightly. "Thanks"

He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her cheek. "You're welcome" Fi's face instantly grew red as she clutched the sword to her chest. She peeked over at Flint who was glowing in anger.

"Fifi, you _said_ you wouldn't let him do that anymore!" The fire elemental said dangerously.

"How am I supposed to stop things I didn't even see coming?"

"Chill the fluff out, flamebrain. It's not like she kissed me or anything." Marshall said confused as to why a peck on the cheek would make anybody mad.

"My _name_. Is _Flint_ and I'd appreciate it it you kept your_ lips_ off my girlfriend!" the younger boy said, flames blazing and eyes glowing red as he got up in Marshall's face.

"Guys!" The girl said, desperately trying to get their attention.

"Flint, You're going to burn down my castle. Will you please calm down?" Gumball tried with a worried tone to his voice. Flame Prince whirled around and shoved a finger in his face.

"Don't even think I don't _know what you did._ You're just as bad, if not_ worse_ than that vampire." Gumball paled visibly and prayed to Gob that Flint would not tell Fionna what had happened.

"What are you talking about, Flint." The girl asked in a whisper. He turned to look at Fionna.

"He's the one that called my Mother." The flame hissed, the heat emanating off him growing as the shield he had began to break.

"YOU DID _WHAT!_?" The blonde shrieked and stalked up to Gumball. "It was all_ your_ fault and you had the_ audacity_ to get upset at me about going to his rescue!?" she could have slapped him. Marshall Lee laughed at the tongue lashing the prince was receiving. "Do you even KNOW how messed up that is? How messed up_ I_ was?"

"Fionna, I was-"

"Trying to protect me, from something I chose myself! I'm not your flipping pet." Marshall was howling in laughter at this point, and Flint was still glowing angrily.

"Don't think _you_ are getting off so easy!" He leveled a glare at the eternal youth. "Threatening the lives of an entire kingdom over one girl that you supposedly don't even like that much? You're more pathetic than that stupid gumwad! You can't even admit your real feelings!" Marshall's eyes narrowed and he opened a fang filled mouth to retort when he was cut off.

"You too, Marsh? Really? I mean, I expect this crap from PG but I thought you at least trusted me. All of you just treat me like I'm some _toy_ that _belongs_ to you. " She was breathing heavily, holding back tears that threatened to spill over.

"C'mon, girly, it's not like that."

"Fifi"

"Fionna, I just want to keep you safe." All three spoke at once and then glared at each other and began to bicker.

"I hope you're all happy! You ruined my globbing birthday. You want to know which one of you I like best? It's Cake. At least she_ respects my decisions_." the guys opened their mouths to try again and she just held up a hand. "Nope. I don't care. I'm going home. You guys can do whatever the plop you feel like. Just stay away from me." She ran from the ballroom towards Marshall's house, completely sure of her prank now. That donk was going to get what's coming to him. She emptied the small bottle of peroxide into his half empty bottle of shampoo and shook it up good, retrieved every last item of clothing, weapon, or knick knack she'd ever left at the vampire's house, and set off for the tree.


	14. Chapter 14

"I'm gunna be out for a week. Don't worry and don't look for me.

Fionna"

Cake had shown the note to each of the three guys when they came by the tree house, as well as giving each of them a sound tongue lashing. It really took a lot to piss Fionna off and chase her out of town, and these three idiots had managed to do it. Despite the fact that Fionna had told them all specifically that she hadn't wanted to see them, Marshall Lee had visited the Tree house once a day since she disappeared. Cake noticed his hair getting lighter and had BMO record him. It was honestly hilarious. His hair was getting all streaky.

* * *

She had left the house in the black of night, taking her new sword, her demon blood sword, and only what she could fit in her pack. She flicked the tears off her cheeks and ran into the dark to kick evils butt and blow off some steam.

As she was stabbing a tree ogre to death, half way through her week, she was silently fuming. Who did those three think she was? Some lame little girl waiting for some guy to tell her what to do and how to act? She would never do something she didn't want to do! Not ever! And those butt guys better learn. They'd better learn or she'd beat them all to a bloody pulp.

She found another monster and fought it in a blind rage. She stabbed it in the leg and wrenched her blade sideways as the beast let out a vicious howl of pain and anger. She screamed right back at it and pulled her blade free with a sickening, wet squelch just as a massive hand came crashing down and flung her away. She hit a tree and dropped her blade with a loud groan. So that's how it's gonna be? She got up and wiped the dirt and sweat from her forehead and picked up her runic blade. She ran at the monster yelling and it swiped at her. She jumped and landed flat on the things arms and began to climb up. It tried to throw her off but she only stabbed it with her swords and held on for dear life.

The thing roared in pain and plucked her off its shoulder crushing her in its giant fist. She struggled to breathe as it crushed her. She felt a few pops in her limbs and did the only thing she could think of. She opened her mouth wide and bit the beast, ripping a bloody mouthful of flesh off its finger. It quickly dropped her and she landed roughly, turning an ankle and cursing. It swung its other hand at her again and as before she jumped aboard, quickly climbing up to her swords and landing unsteadily on the giants shoulder. Screaming loudly and ignoring the throbbing pain in her ankle, she ran at the giants ugly head. He tried to clamp a hand down on her but she leapt forward and to the side, grabbing its hair and swinging wildly. She almost slipped but quickly grabbed another handful of hair and successfully swung to the other shoulder. Landing on her good ankle she almost fell but corrected herself and continued her assault on the giants head. She cut at its ear slicing it deeply and thrust the blade deep into the juncture between the neck and shoulder.

The creature howled in pain again and slapped her from his shoulder. She dragged the sword with her, it created a large gaping wound across the side of his neck and she was covered in its blood. She landed hard against a tree, impaling her good leg on a broken branch and fell down the trunk landing hard on the ground. the creature was pressing on its neck and woozily walking around as it bled to death.  
She tried to stand up, but her ankle throbbed and her thigh hurt. She dragged herself into a clearing and set up the tent she had brought as best she could. Once she had a decent shelter, the girl fished some peroxide, some tweezers, and a bandage out of her pack. This was going to be painful.

* * *

She sat alone in her tent, her week of brooding almost up. Maybe they'd figure out she was hurt and come for her soon. Since that fight with the evil giant, her leg had just gotten infected and become a problem. She couldn't even stand on it. In good news though, her ankle didn't hurt anymore. She hoped those poo-brains had learned their lesson. One thing she knew, however, is that she certainly wasn't going to date any of them.

She had thought, had hoped, Flint would be the answer to her problems, but his crazy temper had shattered those hopes. It was a shame really. He was so awesome and liked to adventure, but, if he couldn't handle Marshall Lee and Gumball being stupid, they were bound to have lots of problems. PG and Marsh were her bros. You don't ditch bros for some random dude you just met. Even if he's totes math when he's not being all grumps.

She tried sitting up but it made her head swim, she was just _so cold_. Where was her blanket? Where was Cake? Why did she do this by herself? Nobody knew where she was and she was going to die. She was going to die and it was her own fault. Those whacked out idiots. She'd never get to see them again. With that last thought, she passed out on the floor in her tent.

* * *

"..na, Fionna!" She came to in Gumball's embrace, shivering.

"mmwhy is it so c-c-cold?" She groaned as PG was... removing her clothes!? "whut are you d-doing!?"

"Please excuse my impropriety, but Fionna you are burning up! I've got to cool you down and get you to the palace." He moved to lift the girl bridal style. He smelled sweet, and she nuzzled blearily into his chest as he climbed onto Lord Monochromicorn's back. She vaguely wondered when he had become so strong. He didn't used to be able to pick her up. and his shoulders were so broad. She giggled but it made her head swim and she went quiet again.

He had rested her in front of him, his arms firm around her as he fretted. She was so messed up, and it was partly (if not completely) his fault. If she died because of this he would not be able to go on. When she let out a heady giggle he looked down at her and squeezed her closer. He would not let that happen. He was usually the one being saved by her, and he so badly wanted to return the favor, even if it was just this once. He pulled out his phone and called Cake.

"I've found her, she's all messed up. I'm taking her straight to the Candy Palace for medical help." He nodded and affirmed things into the phone.

"But my swords..." She mumbled into his shirt. He couldn't help but smile at this, even in need of life-saving medical attention she worried about her precious weapons.

"Hush now, I'll have Marshall retrieve them." and she fell asleep on him again.


	15. Chapter 15

Next time she woke up, she was in a hospital bed and her head was blissfully light. She looked around and saw the three guys and her cat sister. She giggled like a drunken school girl and they all rushed to her side, Gumball the first to reach her hand.

"How are you feeling?" He asked concern lacing his tone and the others faces. She could only giggle in response, whatever drug they had her on was certainly a powerful one.

"She sounds good enough." Marshall said while casually floating on the air, legs crossed and arms behind his head. Her eyes focused on the floating vamp.

"Tee Hee Marshy's a zebra!" She dissolved into another fit of giggles and he frowned at her.

"Yeah, thanks for that, girly." He said dryly, "what did you even do?" But she was in no state of mind to tell him exactly how she did her prank. Her head felt cloudy and light and she was suddenly extremely tired again. She laid back and almost immediately fell asleep.

"Come on boys, let's let her rest." Cake turned to Gumball, "can you get them to turn down the goof syrup they got goin into her?" The pink prince only nodded having yet to let go of Fionna's small, calloused hand.

Despite the cats urging, the three boys stayed by Fionna's side; one looking eerily dispassionate, the other two with brows furrowed in worry.  
Marshall Lee was worried, of course he was. This was his best bud! But he was also extremely annoyed. He hated to think that she had risked her life because he had pissed her off, he hated to think that that flame brat had had the pleasure of Fionna's first kiss, he hated that Gumball was holding her hand between his two soft, pink paws, and mostly he hated how much he wanted her. He had denied it until the night of the party, when he came home and all of her stuff that had sneaked its way in was gone.

He hadn't noticed at first, as riled as he had been, that anything had changed. But he smelled her scent, as if she had just been there. He noticed her sword that had been leaning by his ax bass (she thought she could play it like an instrument) was gone. He then checked the drawer she had claimed ("I spend the night here like 3 times a week dude, just let me leave some fresh clothes!") it was empty. He dashed around the house to find all her stashes of stuff gone. Vanished. And with the stuff, it seemed, she had taken a piece of his unbeating, undying heart. He rushed straight to the tree where Cake shoved a note in his face and proceeded to tell him what an ass he was.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, cat" he'd rolled his eyes and left. He supposed he was worried that she was gone for good. That's what he would do when he got too angry. He should have known better, it's Fionna for globs sake. He hadn't even noticed that his hair was wonky til one day when the cat couldn't not laugh and he finally had to look in a mirror. He was a hot mess, especially his hair which had wild blonde streaks running through it. If war hadn't been declared already, it was definitely on now.

And now he was in a hospital, watching over an injured Fionna, and he was so angry. Couldn't those two just leave for a minute? But he knew that if she woke up and they were fighting Fi would be even more angry than she was when she left. They had come to an unspoken agreement to just stop. It didn't mean he had to like it, but he wasn't going to cause her anymore trouble. At least not yet anyway. Once she was better, she had better watch out.

* * *

The next time Fi came to she was more coherent. The guys had fallen asleep, well besides Marshall Lee. He had been hoping for a few moments alone with the younger girl.

"Hey girly." He said coolly, not making eye contact but floating closer to the bed.

"Hey yourself." She croaked tiredly.

"How are you feeling?" She stretched her stiff muscles and winced a little when she tried to stretch her left leg.

"I'm good" she said trying to play off the wince.

"You really did a number on yourself this time."

"Whatever, at least I don't look like a zebra," she sulked.

He smiled at her and opened his mouth to reply just as Bonnibeaux began to stir. The pink prince opened his eyes and groaned softly. Sleeping in a chair isn't very comfortable. He rubbed his eyes and took in his surroundings, eyes finally focusing on the blonde adventurer sitting up in her hospital bed. A relieved, sleepy smile crossed his face. She returned the smile and raised her hand in greeting. He relocated his chair to beside her bed.

"I'm glad you're awake, Fionna" he took her hand in his again.

"I'm glad I am too," she said quietly. She turned back to where Marshall Lee had been floating just seconds ago, but he was gone now. Whether he was invisible or just gone she didn't know. There was a few minutes of tension filled silence. It hadn't been so awkward with Marshall, she noted somewhere in the back of her head.

"I'm sorry, Fionna." He said with a sigh and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "I should have never interfered in your relationship." She pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms.

"No you shouldn't have." She said crossly, "you are my friend not my dad" he sighed again, looking as if she'd just placed the weight of the world on his shoulders. "But I forgive you." The prince smiled at her, a cautious but happy curl of the lips.

"I asked Marshall Lee to retrieve your weapons." He said conversationally.

"That's good. The red one is my favorite and the runic blade was brand new so I didn't want to lose it." The prince nodded and fidgeted a little. It was weird, PG never fidgeted. Fionna recalled his exact words "it was unbecoming for royalty to fidget" he had said.

"Just spit it out dude." He looked up in surprise not expecting Fionna to notice his apprehension.

"W-why, whatever are you talking about, my dear?" He inwardly cringed and cursed his clumsy tongue.

"That. You never fidget and you stutter even less." She leveled a serious gaze at him. "What do you want to say?"

"Well, I was wondering... I mean it would ease my mind ever so much if... if you would stay at the castle while you were convalescing"

"Gumball..."

"You would be closer to medical help if you needed it, and there are plenty of rooms. You could have your own suite even, plus the castle staff would be at your beck and call." He reasoned quickly. "And it would really put my mind at ease, I'm certain if the others were awake or around they'd agree."

Marshall Lee silently scoffed from his lounging position beside the bed. It would very much not set his mind at ease if Fi were to stay at the castle, but her being close to medical help if and when she needed it would be good. He had gone invisible as soon as the other boy began to stir. He really didn't want to chat with the prissy pink prince if he didn't have too, and he could watch over Fi just as well invisible as visible. He watched as Fionna mulled the princes words over and then reluctantly accepted, and as angry as Marshall was about PG's obviously more-than-PG intentions, it would give him time to exact his prank revenge if the girl was out of the treehouse.

"But," the girl amended "Marsh and FP have to be able to visit whenever they want." To his credit, the princes wilting was barely noticeable, but he took his victory and was grateful for it.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N:** y'all should thank hash tag for being awesome because she's the reason I'm posting another chapter tonight. Also sometimes I forget that I haven't posted everything I wrote yet and I have to go back to see what your reviews are talking about cuz I'm a herpderp

* * *

She had been bed ridden in the Candy Palace for two whole days and she was already dying of boredom. Flame Prince had stopped by, but it was totally awkward, and glob knows what Marshall Lee was up to. She shivered at the thought of whatever evil things would be waiting for her at home when she was well. Marshall, while certainly able to see the humor in his hair being lightened, was still not too thrilled by it. Gumball came to check on her a few times during the day as well as taking his lunch in her chambers. The awkwardness had mostly left him and he was back to his usual charming self.

She was definitely aware, however, that he'd sit closer to her than he used to. That their hands would brush a little more. That he'd been a little less princely and a little more casual around her. She wasn't quite certain what to make of this behavior and settled on just ignoring it. What was the harm in being more casual with a friend? The prince had made it more than clear that Fionna was fated to stay in his friend zone forever. She'd made peace with that many a year ago.

"How's your leg feeling today?" he asked. She pulled her skirt up a bit and showed him the pristine bandage.

"Whatever the doctors did got it to stop oozing, but it still hurts a bunch." He looked at her leg a little longer than she expected and she became self-conscious. "It's just a white bandage dude." She said, a blush dusting her cheeks. Gumball cleared his throat and looked quickly away, clearly flustered.

"It's good to hear that your condition is improving." He said with a small cough. _'Real smooth Bonnibeaux, stare at her thigh like you're stupid or something'_ he mentally berated himself.

"yeah..." she said, fussing with the edge of her skirt she had pulled back down. "I was gonna try to go for a walk in the garden later." She said, trying to bring the conversation back into more comfortable territory.

"That sounds lovely! Perhaps I will join you," He flushed a bit then looked at her, a worried expression upon his perfect, princely features, "That is if I'm not imposing."

"Of course not dude, besides, it's your palace. I should be asking you if its ok." He looked relieved, and they fell into idle, friendly chatter. Soon Fionna felt tired, and despite wanting to talk more with her bro, she yawned long and loudly.

"You should get some rest," He said, clearing the table he'd placed beside the bed and making to leave.

"No," She whined, her sentence punctuated with yawns, "Stay and talk with me! I'm so," yawn, "Bored!" The prince simply chuckled and reached out to touch her hand.

"You need rest in order to speed your recovery. It would be remiss of me to deprive you." His warm smile urged her to return it.

"Ok dude." She nestled down into the blankets on her borrowed bed. "But only cuz you asked so nicely." She said stubbornly, her voice becoming heavy with sleep.

Though instead of taking a leisurely, crutch-enabled stroll through the gardens that afternoon with Prince Gumball, she slept well into the night and awoke to the melodic sounds of Marshall Lee softly strumming his guitar and humming. His back was to her and she let him go on for a little bit longer before she let him know she was awake.

"Hey" She said softly, sitting up and resting her back against the cushioned headboard. The vampire floated towards and over her, settling a few inches above the mattress. He continued to strum his guitar, not looking at her.

"Sup, girly?"

"Not much, Marshmallow. Whats up with you?" She shot back easily. He didn't answer, instead focusing on his guitar. He didn't want to tell her that nothing was up, and that he had just wanted to make sure Prince Proper was living up to his prissy and annoying standards. He really didn't expect Gummy butt to put the moves on Fionna, but the prince was still a man, and men have urges. And Fionna was basically helpless.

She watched his calloused fingers fly over the strings on the guitar. She wondered, vaguely, about his hands. How much larger were they than her own? How would his grip, if he took her hand in his, differ from PG's? How would they feel casually brushing the hair from her face? Y'know, in a purely friend sorta way. Cuz friends totally hold hands... and touch eachothers faces... and wonder about their best buds hands. She blushed, dragged her right knee up to rest her face on, and wished she could blame her brain's stupidity on the hinky brew that had been flowing into her two days ago. Her head was messed up. It had to be. All this stuff she wasn't used to was happening and it just threw her off balance, she reasoned. That's why she was thinking about his hands on her. Marshall Lee glanced at her out of the corner of a shuttered eye.

"You feeling ok, Fi?" she sighed.

"Just weird."

"Oh" more music.

"I'm so sicka being in this bed." she huffed, taking her frustration out on the situation. He smirked evilly.

"I could make it more... _interesting_ for you." He said in _that_ voice. The one that made her insides curl up and her face hot. She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Hush, you." He set his guitar to the side and touched down, sitting beside her on the bed. Casually draping an arm around her.  
"I'd take you out of here but I think Bubba would probably lose his gumballs if you disappeared."

"His name's not Bubba, Marsh."

"Psh. Semantics." She giggled, and leaned against him. All the awkward thoughts dispelled easily and she fell into the friendly banter that came with that lopsided smirk.

* * *

In the morning, when the doctors and even Gumball himself came to check up on Fi and change her bandage, she was slumped up against Marshall Lee. The latter smirked evilly at the prince who was more than clearly angered.

"What are you _doing,_ Marshall Lee?" The prince questioned through clenched teeth.

"She fell asleep on me, and I didn't want to wake her, so I stayed put." Gumball only glared at the vampire. He did not trust that rapscallion as far as he could throw him, and Gumball very much doubted that he'd ever have the chance to actually try to throw him. The paled-skinned teen only smirked ever wider and jiggled his arm a bit to gently wake up Fionna, since they were going to anyway.

"Girly," He whispered, "Its time to wake up." And, just to piss off Prince Prissy Pants, he flicked his tongue over the shell of her ear.

"Mmm," She groaned and swatted at him," stoppit, Marshy." She said groggily, turning and nuzzling into his chest. He threw Gumball another triumphant grin over the girls head and shook her arm.

"The doctors gotta take a look at your leg, pipsqueak. Wake up." he urged a little less quietly.

"Dunwanna" he began to float away from her but she threw her arm around him and held him firmly in place. By now the princes pink face was almost entirely red, both with embarrassment and jealousy. Why was it that Marshall Lee was able to touch her so intimately without physical repudiation? He cleared his throat, and for the first time Fionna seemed to register that there were other people in the room besides her and Marshall. Her eyes flew open and she sat up straight, a hot blush staining her cheeks.

"G-good morning PG! Um, I'm sorry we didn't get to go for our stroll yesterday." Once again the prince was all charming smiles and reassurances which helped to ease the girls tension. The two men threw meaningful glances back and forth as they watched over her bandage being changed. Almost arguing without words. When the bandage was changed Marsh decided to take his leave.

"I think if I stay any longer, Blow Pop here is gunna blow a gasket." He kissed her on the cheek.

"My name is Gumball, not Blow Pop, you miscreant." the prince called after him as he escaped with a chuckle through the window, umbrella in hand. the prince calmed himself and turned to Fionna, daring to sit on the edge of the bed next to her.

"The doctors say you should be recovered completely in approximately 2 weeks."

"You mean I have to spend two more whole weeks in this bed?" She grimaced at the thought and PG Laughed.

"No, you should be able to walk within a day or two."

"So I have to spend all of today in a bed... again." She was still unhappy looking. PG looked around conspiratorily and leaned in close.

"I could probably manage to sneak you out of here for a few hours. That is, if you can keep a secret." He smiled and winked. Sometimes PG was the best, most awesome friend she could ever ask for.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** I usually update in the mornings but i woke up to a power outage cuz some drunk butt hole took out a power pole near my apartment complex. then work was crazy so i didnt have a chance to update there. So sorry if you were waiting for this chapter. hope you still have time to read it.

* * *

It had been four days since she was given the prognosis of a two week recovery. As soon as she was allowed to be up and about freely, she took lunch in the dining room with PG. Her days had been filled with exploring the castle and the candy prince, and her nights were filled with Marshall, music, and snoozing on Marshall's shoulder. After the second time Gumball had found her asleep on his shoulder, he had ceased making a fuss about it. He figured that her sleeping on him was better than the _other things_ they could be doing. Honestly, Marshall Lee should take her image into consideration, but Marshall was a creature of pleasure and excess, so he did what he wanted when he wanted. Reproach him at your own risk. Gumball had learned that lesson the hard way a few times. He shuddered at the thought.

Today he'd prepared a picnic breakfast for himself and the girl to take in the gardens behind the castle. He arrived at her suite and knocked on her door.

"Just a second!" She called searching frantically for her normal clothes. All she could find were dresses. and not even the semi okay kind she'd worn on her birthday. The _pink_ kind, with_ bows_, and _frills_. This was probably Peppermint Maids doing. She felt so unbelievably embarrassed but she couldn't just leave whoever was at the door out there forever! What if they needed help? So she picked the least frilly of the abominations they had left her, stuffed her hair up into her hat quickly, and opened the door.

"Good morning, Fionna. I... I..." Half way through his sentence he took in exactly what she was wearing, and his brain turned into a fluffy pile of cotton. The girl blushed and looked down, wringing her hands in front of her.

"I look that stupid huh?" It was just above a whisper. Hearing the defeat in her voice and not liking it one bit, he boldly took her chin in his thumb and forefinger and turned her face up to his.

"No, quite the contrary. You look absolutely lovely." The prince said gently. She let out a small giggle and brushed his hand away from her face.

"Thanks Prince."

"Please, call me Bonnibeaux." He said politely. "I was just wondering if you would join me for a picnic brunch out in the gardens?" She smiled and gratefully accepted. She was monstrously hungry.

The two made their way out to the gardens, stopping by the kitchen to retrieve the basket full of breakfast confections PG had whipped up for them, along with a jug of juice. Once they reached a table outside, Gumball started to set up their place settings and set the table. Fionna giggled and the prince looked up at her.

"Excuse my ignorance, but what is so funny?"

"That's not how you have a picnic, dude." He smiled at her somewhat sheepishly. She just rolled her eyes and yanked the cloth off the table and walked over to a nice shady, grassy spot under a tree and spread it. When that was finished she grabbed the place settings (still sitting where they had been before she yanked the cloth out from under them) and set them on the make-shift blanket, and placed the basket in the middle. "THIS is how you have a picnic!" She said brushing the dirt off her hands. The Prince looked hesitant. "C'mon Gum-" She blushed "uhm.. Bonnibeaux" She sat down by one of the place settings and patted the spot beside her. He smiled and blushed at the sound of his name on her lips, her sweet, lovely, pink lips, and sat beside her. They ate and chatted and Fionna entertained him with exciting stories of adventure and mischief.

* * *

That night, she found a new blue top and skirt in her chambers. This shirt had a bunny hood attached so she just used that instead of her hat. She quickly changed out of the pink plague of a dress and into the more comfortable clothes. right as she slipped her second arm into the sleeve Marshall flew in through the window with his ax guitar and headphones around his neck.

"Hey, Fi." He said casually floating around in a circle, "Trading the hat for a hood?" He pulled the hood back but her hair stayed pretty much in it. it was already up in a ponytail anyway.

"Yeah, Peppermint maid keeps messing with my clothes. I had to wear a pink ,ruffly dress today." She said, her face recoiling in disgust at the memory. Marshall just laughed.

"Pink AND ruffly? Gum-gum musta been in heaven." She swatted at the annoying vampire.

"Whatever dude. Bonnibeaux's just my friend." He looked up at her with a mixture of apprehension and disgust.

"You're using his first name now? That's new."

"W-well he asked me to today. I don't know. It feels all weird."

"Wanna go somewhere with me?" He asked, suddenly itching to be outside of the pink man's domain. Fi started at the abrupt change of subject.

"Like where?" he just shrugged. She looked unsure.

"I don't know Marshy..." He held out his hand and curled his fingers towards himself.

"You've been dying to get out of here since day one. C'mon girly." she took his hand and he yanked her up into his arms and flew them away from the candy palace. He didn't really have anything in mind, but the sky was really clear tonight. Maybe they should do some stargazing. He found a nice, soft-looking, grassy hill with a clear view of the sky and set Fionna down carefully; he didn't want her to tear open her wound again.

"So what are we doing?" The girl inquired. Her fiendish friend just shrugged again. She flopped on her back and stared up at the stars, taking in a deep breath, enjoying the earthy scent around her. Marshall reclined onto the air with his legs crossed and hands behind his head, falling slowly like a leaf, and laid next to Fionna.

"Do you know the names of the constellations, Fi?" He asked softly, staring up at the sky along with her. Her nose wrinkled up cutely as she thought.

"Whats a constellation?" Marshall Laughed, a clear, happy chuckle.

"Bubble butt has all those fancy telescopes and has never shown you the constellations?"

"His name's not bubble butt, Corpse McGee." Marshall looked at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Y'know I'm not completely dead, right?" She shrugged, a sly smile on her face. He grinned evilly in reply and all of a sudden her sides were being attacked with tickles. The blonde giggled and snorted and tried to push his hands away.

"Mar- Marshy, I'm gunna" She tried to speak between bouts of giggles and gasps for breath, "I'm- I'm gunna- hee,- Pee my pants dude" He relented after a few more seconds and a few more shrieks of high pitched, girlish laughter. He too was chuckling as she held her sides and laughed, her features flushed.

He turned back to the sky, replacing a hand behind his head, the other squished between them.

"So what exactly is a constellation?"

"It's a buncha stars, that if you connect them, they make a picture."

"Wow, so like a game in the sky!? That's_ so_ math!" Marshall lee pointed with his free hand to a cluster in the shape of a crown.

"The humans called that one 'Cleopatra'." Her eyes grew wide and sparkled.

"Cleopatra? Show me another one!" And so he did.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N:** I'm really, really happy that you guys all like my story. That being said, I have these things called responsibilities. Like a job and cosplay commissions, and an apartment to maintain, and my mouth to feed. This is all a lot of pressure. I write for pure pleasure. I enjoy that others enjoy what I write, and I try my best to please my readers and to update when I promise. Lately I have been getting rude reviews trying to pressure me into posting more. Honestly it puts me out of my writing mojo. Honestly I have been having a hard time writing lately. Now, If I updated more, and wrote less, eventually you would be stuck waiting for updates. In order to not make you, my lovely readers, wait, I keep a few chapters ahead of what is posted. This is a buffer for me, It is not so you can harass me to post more. In fact if I do continue to be harassed like this I will probably just quit posting here because writing would lose the purpose of carefree enjoyment that it holds for me. I don't like to threaten this because most of you are very kind, but I have my limits and they are close to being crossed.

Sorry to have to say all this,

**NFE**

* * *

Fionna hastily scampered down the hallways towards the grand dining room. Her clothes hadn't been THAT dirty. She had only been sitting around the castle, not even one adventure. Why'd they have to take her clothes again? This poofy, girly, nightmarish atrocity Peppermint Maid had shoved her into was definitely not something she'd like to be seen in, but she had promised Gumball breakfast together and Fionna doesn't break promises. Even when hideously poofy dresses are involved.

When she reached the grand hall that served as the breakfast room, she hesitated behind the door and fretted with her dress. She looked stupid, and PG would probably laugh at her. Not out loud, he was too much of a gentleman, but that made it hurt all the more. She took a deep breath, steeled herself for the inevitable reaction, and plastered a smile on her face. Pushing open the door, she peeked her head in and curled her hand in a wave towards the prince.

Having successfully caught his eye, Gumball sent her a dazzling smile and stood up, walking over to her to open the door further for her. He opened the door wide and took her hand lightly, leading her into the room. He hadn't quite taken in what she was wearing yet and began to talk as he escorted the younger girl to the table.

"Good morning! How is your leg faring?" she giggled weakly and fiddled with her clothing with her free hand.

"My leg's fine" she mumbled. He turned to her, intent on finding the cause of her gloom, and was greeted by a very pleasant and unexpectedly lovely view of Fionna in the most becoming of dresses. The prince, for the first time in a long time, found himself utterly speechless. He stood there, gaping at her, her hand in his (now tighter) grip. The girl fidgeted a bit, blushing hotly and glaring at the ground.

"I knew I looked stupid, but I didn't realize it was that bad" she said with a little bitterness. Gumball pulled himself together, almost shaking himself out of his stupor.

"Oh, Fionna. You look absolutely stunning." Fionna's eyes went wide and she choked on her own breath and almost toppled over. She would have, too, if she hadn't fallen into Gumball's arms. She found herself smushed up against his chest, his candy-sweet scent filling up her senses and messing with her head. This is Gumball, her bro, the man in constant need of saving. No longer the man of her dreams, just the friend that she could always rely on.

The prince, surprised by the normally unflappable hero's sudden lack of balance, wrapped his arms around her to steady her. The feeling of a warm body-her warm body- soft against his own was new and strangely foreign to the prince. He quickly found that he liked it, and squeezed her lightly before releasing her.

"I'm sorry, that was very forward of me." He said apologetically while wishing very much to pull her back into his arms. She did look very dizzy still. But no, it was time for breakfast. He pulled her chair out for her then took his place beside her.

* * *

Marshall watched the prince warily. He had not left that morning when Fionna woke. He wanted to see what that prissy pink prince and Fi did all day together. He expected lots of ooey gooey disgusting softness, but when Fionna practically swooned into his arms Marshall's black blood boiled.  
Surely the why-wolf kickingest, dragon slayingest, adventure havingest, most mathematical girl in all of Aaa wasn't falling for that puffed up princess of a man. Not again. She wasn't into all this pretentious bullshit. He continued to watch her through breakfast. She looked a little... Off. Like she was on autopilot.

How like Princess Perfect to not notice. As the prince prattled in about boring crap and the girl just gave small replies, Marshall fumed. Fionna had never specifically told him not to come during the day, and Gumball and he had never really drawn any lines, and Flint... Well Flint had sort of disappeared. Marshall didn't waste time thinking about it, it just meant he wasn't in the way or under foot. He made his mind to join them for breakfast.

He floated above Fionna and snatched a strawberry off her plate, swiftly divesting it of its reddish hue and popping the white remains into the girls mouth as she squeaked in surprise.

"Mornin' girly." He said, "what's up"

"Marshall Lee!" She exclaimed happily after chewing and swallowing the berry.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" The prince's voice held a poorly hidden edge of disdain. Marshall just shrugged.

"Felt like it." Gumball knew better than to press further in front of Fionna. The rest of breakfast flew by with lots of conversation and more than a few barbed jokes made at Gumball's expense.

"Fionna, would you accompany me on a stroll through the gardens?" Gumball asked when everyone was finishing up their food. The girl looked worriedly between the two.

"Go ahead, girly." Marshall assured. "I'm just going to crash in your room" he threw a smirk at Gumball whose face had grown red at the implications of sleeping in a ladies bed.

"Okie dokie," the blonde said good-naturedly, "I'll see you later." Gumball offered her his arm and she hesitantly took it. The prince surreptitiously shot a glowering Marshall Lee a triumphant look over his shoulder. But Marshall Lee would have all night, and he didn't need to force her into girly clothes and take her for walks to sweep her off her feet.

* * *

Flint rolled over on his bed and sighed heavily. It seemed that his girlfriend had wanted her space. He had run out of heat shields anyway, so why not give her the space her actions had begged for?

_'Because you don't want to'_ his brain argued.

_'Well it's not always about what I want'_ he had argued back. But she was in the Candy Kingdom with those two coal-for-brains being doted upon and fawned over. It's not that he didn't think she should be fawned over, rather the opposite. He just wished that HE was the one able to do the fawning. But she had made it clear through her fumbling sentences and downward gaze that he was making her uncomfortable. He didn't want to hurt her so he had stayed away.

Her friends were ok, when they weren't being over-protective or flirtatious. Marshall Lee was even pretty cool, obviously not as evil as is to be believed, but they were both hot for her. And she wanted him to ignore that.

He rolled over again groaning into his pillow. The two weeks were almost up and she would be home. Then he would go see her. Once she was home. So she could dump him. Because what kind of half-wit, lame-wad, flaming terrible boyfriend doesn't go see his girlfriend the whole time she is recovering from a wound.

This flaming idiot right here.

He lifted his head up and dropped it back into his pillow groaning loudly. Since when was he such a coward? He doesn't even know. But he does know that losing Fionna seems like the worst thing possible, like the flickering hot flame in his chest might just cease to be if she leaves him. And he can't really bring himself to just let it happen, but what else can he do?


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: **I'm posting a day early cuz i'm having a birthday party tomorrow so i may not be able to update! HERE HAVE SOME ANGST CUZ ITS WHAT I"M GOOD AT!

* * *

The girl walked home in a daze. She totally had not seen that coming. Gumball confessing his affections for her. Holding her forearms in his elegant hands. Long, pink fingers wrapped around muscles that were too toned to be considered lady-like. His warm, purple eyes staring deep into her blue ones and he said it.

"Fionna..." He trailed off, a look of insecurity flashing across his face as he searched her own for something. He gathered up his courage and continued, "I find myself unable to sleep, for thoughts of you." Her face went red. What is happening right now? Surely he couldn't be saying what she thinks he is saying. She sort of wants to vomit. Not out of disgust or anything, it's just a sudden feeling in her gut telling her something is going horribly out of her control in a way she's not sure she wants.

"Wh-what?" She stammered, stepping back reflexively and pulling one of her arms from his grip.

"You are a beautiful, amazing young woman," the prince continued, oblivious to the fear and upset growing inside the girl he was speaking to, "A hero to the people, and you have been a close personal friend of mine for some time now."

"Aw, thanks dude, you're a good friend to me, too" She tried derailing this conversation. He just smiled down at her, so sure of himself.

"These feelings I have for you, I must confess," Oh boy. She gulped audibly not wanting to hear the next words out of his mouth. Wishing that, for once, Gumball's words would fail him, that his confidence would suddenly die, that Cake would suddenly explode through the door and stop this confession, anything so that her world would not fall out from under her_ again_. "They only swell with time. There are no words to describe them. They are amazing and frightening and wonderful."

"Gumball..." She said quietly. She was drowning in the purple depths of his eyes in the worst way possible. She felt like she might start crying, or fall over, and throwing up was also still an option. She might just do all three. Maybe. If he didn't just _let go of her arm_ and listen to her for a few seconds. But he didn't notice. Why would he break his streak of not noticing how she feels_ now_? She took another step backwards.

"Fionna, what I mean to say is that I care for you." She tried to pull her arm away from him, but he held on. Why now? Why this? Her heart was beating so fast and her eyes darted around for any means of escape and her face felt so hot she might die. She kind of wanted to die now. Gumball had broken everything. It wasn't fair. She physically shoved him away from her and ran.

"Fionna! Wait!" But she didn't stop. She _couldn't_ stop. The perfect balance of her world had been shattered and she was so confused, and upset, and she wanted to disappear. When she was well out of the Candy kingdom she had stopped running. So here she was, walking in a daze towards the tree-fort. A girl shattered and alone. She hugged her arms around herself, rubbing her shoulders in a way that might have been comforting if she wasn't so messed up and angry and depressed and CONFUSED. Was this some sort of ill-timed prank? Some massive joke? She didn't think it was funny. She didn't think it was funny at all. And where the flip was Cake? Leaving her alone in the candy palace for a whole two weeks? What the flip?  
And then there was the whole Flint thing hanging in the air. Would he be at the tree house when she got there? She hopes he isn't, she can't face him, or any of her friends, right now. It felt like she was in the ocean, circled by sharks. The OCEAN.

When she finally reached the tree fort she dragged herself up ladders and to the bathroom. She had decided she was just going to sit in the shower for a while. Let the thrum of the water pounding on her skin wash away all the stupid from all the boys messing with her brain.  
She sighed as she divested herself of her adventurer gear and fiddled with the faucet of the shower. When it was just the right temperature she ran her hands through her tangled, matted mess of hair and hopped in. She sighed and rolled her head and shoulders, slowly working the tension out of her body.

When she got out of the shower she grabbed a towel, wrapping it around herself, and grabbed another to towel dry her hair. She left her clothes on the bathroom floor and went to the closet to get a new set.

A loud shriek pierced through the night air.

"MARSHALL LEE!" Still wrapped in a towel she stomped out of her closet and into the bathroom for her old clothes. "MARSHALL LEE, YOU FART-FACED BUTT MUNCHER, WHERE THE GLIBBING PLOP ARE MY CLOTHES!" Her clothes she had left in the bathroom were gone.

"They are in your closet." A smooth deep voice said from behind her. She could hear the smirk that was growing on his lips and she swears to glob he better run. She whirls around, sending a deadly glare at the vampire. He smirks wider.

"Maybe I should have forgone the costumes and just left you towels to wear." He drags his eyes appreciatively over her towel covered body and she suddenly remembers that holy slop she's only in a towel. She starts grabbing anything within reach and chucking it at his head.

"Get." A brush whizzes by his ear

"out" a compact hits his chest

"of" tooth brush

"my" tooth brush holder

"room" hand mirror hits the wall and shatters

"PERV!" And he's cowering back down the ladder and she's breathing hard but she can't help but laugh.

The girl went back to her closet to try to find something the least bit acceptable in her new wardrobe. There was satin and lacy nothings and a lot of red and black. She found the largest item of clothing she could and wiggled into it. Did girls really wear this stuff? The black skirt only came down to her mid thighs and it had a tiny, frilly apron flap attached at the waist, with poofy ish black sleeves and an impossibly low neckline. She then ventured over to her dresser to see if he'd left her socks.

Nope.

She lifted a pair of lacy thigh highs out. What the flip is this crap? Not adventure wear that's for sure. As she pulled them on she was afraid she would rip the flimsy material. Thankfully Marshall had left her shoes alone. She looked stupid enough as it is without stumbling around in high heels like she had whacked-out poo-brain or something.

She climbed down the ladder to the living room, trying to hold the skirt to her bottom and not fall at the same time. Marshall could only laugh, that is until she made her way awkwardly down and stood full in front of him. Her face was an appetizing shade of pink underneath a furious expression and she was fidgeting and wringing her hands. Marshall Lee was speechless and his mouth hung open. There was a knock at the door and Fi squeaked and attempted to cover herself with her hands.

"Chill, girly, I'll get it." She shot the vampire a relieved look. He floated over to the door and opened it.

"What are YOU doing here, _bloodsucker_?"

Fionna quickly ran over and pushed Marshall out of the way, stopping the snarky and no doubt problem causing reply that was building on his tongue.

"Flint! Hi!" She said a little breathlessly.

"Hey Fifi, what's he doing here?" He looked her up and down, his flaming hair flickering a bit brighter. "And what are you wearing?" She blushed.

"Marshall Lee took all my normal clothes..." She trailed off. He looked so angry, and his flames were growing higher.

"So instead of calling me when you got home, you're gallivanting around for him in skimpy clothes?"

"I just got out of the shower! I didn't have anything else!"

"What about the clothes you had on before your shower?" She winced.

"He took them...?" Flint bristled and grew brighter, the edges of his shape becoming more flame-like.

"He saw you NAKED!?"

"No! I mean... I don't think so. I didn't want him too!"

"You didn't _want_ him to? You didn't _WANT_ him to? How about 'no he didn't because I wouldn't let him.'?"

"Exactly what the heck am I supposed to do when I don't even know he's here!?"

"You SHOULD hang out with people who actually RESPECT you not some idiot who just does whatever he wants!"

"Don't you dare tell me who I can and can't be friends with! You know what? I'm done. This is done. I can't even deal with how jealous you are all the time!"

"FINE!" And he left in a blaze. Fionna sighed and deflated but she was strangely relieved. All of Flint's jealousy really had her on edge, and with all the crap Gumball just pulled she needed somebody more chill to hang with.

"You okay, Fi?" Marshall asked.

"Yeah," she sent him a tired smile. "Boy was too jelly." She collapsed on the couch and Marshall floated by her.

"Stressing you out?" She nodded.

"Gumball too. I don't even know what is up with everyone."

"No more 'Bonnibeaux'?" He said the name in a high, breathy voice with his hands clasped near his face and his eye lashes fluttering. He sorta expected a kick to the face or an angry exclamation, anything but what he got.

"I don't even wanna talk about it" she slumped over the arm of the couch.


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: **SO I GATHER YOU ALL LIKED THE LAST CHAPTER! IT WAS SO MUCH FUN TO WRITE CUZ ALL I"M GOOD AT IS ANGST.

Abbidon: You brought up a point i'm actually having trouble with. I'm not a prankster by nature so my writing tends to meander away from the pranks and go to the drama. I'm working on it i promise! as far as length. the last chapter was one of my longest lol. I tend to write short pieces and even writing as much as 1200 words is sometimes hard for me. Also thank you for the in depth review with actual critique! you make me so happy T_T

another general note. am i the only person that finds it distracting when people capitalize every word they type?

THANKS FOR ALL THE FAVES AND FOLLOWS YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME

* * *

"So, wait, wait, wait. Let me get this straight." Marshall said, mirth clearly evident in his voice. And also he just got done laughing uncontrollably. "He told you, basically, that he's in love with you and you just shoved him and ran away?" His smile was so big it looked almost painful and he burst into laughter again.

"He wouldn't let go of meee" she groaned into the couch. His laughter only got louder until she looked up with a tiny smile on her face. "Okay so maybe it's a little funny." she relented. She sighed and rolled over onto her back, head still propped up on the arm of the couch. "I'm hungry" Her belly punctuated the statement with a loud gurgle.

He looked over at her and was once again slapped in the face with the long , lean-but-muscular, satin-clad figure of his bestest of besties. "Me too" he breathed. But he wasn't hungry for red. He had to fight this, though. Because she was his best _bud_, and she needed _friends_ right now. "Hey, Fi."

"Yeah?"

"Nice panties" Her face turned that oh-so-very-enticing shade of pink and she pulled the skirt back down to her thighs again.

"Marshall you TARD! Give me my clothes back!" She tackled the vampire to the ground and threw a punch (which he easily caught).

"Nope" he said. "You get to dress like that for a week and a half."

"Why?" She pouted.

"Because my hair was all messed up for that long."

"Boo!" she frowned. He ran a calloused thumb over her lips before he thought about it and she slapped his hand away from her face. He began to float up from his spot on the floor taking the girl with him and righting them. He set her gently on the floor and reclined once again on the air.

"So what do you want to eat, girly?"she threw her hands up and shouted.

"Spaghetti!" so she went in the kitchen and rustled around in the fridge pulling out some spaghetti Cake must have left in the fridge, dumped it in a baking dish and shoved it in the oven.

"Look at you, even able to make your own dinner now" Marshall mocked and quickly dodged the spoon that was thrown at his head. "one of these days you're actually gunna do some damage, squirt." He rubbed the top of her head as she squeaked at him in protest.

* * *

Fionna's week and a half of scantily clad torture was up and she was ready to get back at that slack-jawed vamp tramp. She had a plan of attack and was just waiting for the opportunity to implement it. That was the tricky part though. Marshall Lee had stuck around the WHOLE time she had had her new wardrobe. He claimed it was to make sure she wasn't buying herself new clothes but she wasn't entirely convinced. She had caught him staring more than once and he had not come out unscathed.

"Fionna, my eyeballs are not punching bags!" He'd angrily insisted one night when she had clocked him good.

"Well then keep em off my lady parts and on my face, perv!" She had replied, shaking her fist at him. He held a cool palm to his face and frowned grumpily at her.

"I wasn't aware legs were considered 'lady parts'" He stated without particularly thinking about it, pretty much affirming Fionna's suspicions.

"So you were staring?" She said with a triumphant look above crossed arms.

"Whatever, by the way your clothes are in the attic." He said sourly. His mood was pretty much shot. Marshall lee didn't much like being punched in the face. He left for his own home without even so much as a 'good bye' to Fionna. Fionna didn't mind, however. If that jerk butt wanted to be a grump he could do it somewhere else. Besides, he had to go home so she could prank the bejeezus out of him.

She went to the attic and found a box stuffed full of her clothes. Also on the very top was the very first costume she had been forced to wear. There was a note pinned to it.

"You should keep this one, it looked good on you.

ML"

She blushed and shoved it further into the box and dragged it back down to her bedroom. While she was stuffing all her clothes back where they belong (and that stupid satin nightmare Marshall forced on her down deep in the depths of her dresser never to see the light of day again) she muttered under her breath. Why were all the guys being stupid? Even Marshall Lee had been acting weird. Well, weird_er_. It made her uncomfortable. She wished things would just go back to normal, so that her head could stop spinning in the clouds and her tummy would _settle the math down_ so that maybe she could eat more than a little nibble here or there. Pranks should help with that. Lots and lots of pranks.

* * *

She gave it a few days, quietly amassing and preparing the proper amount of plastic wrap. She might have just outdone herself this time. It was brilliant! Ok, so maybe the maze had taken a little more finesse and the string had been interesting, but this would be so funny! She made her way over to the vampires humble abode one day while he was sleeping and began to wind the clear film around and around and around his house. blocking shut every door and window with layer upon layer of plastic wrap. He'd get quite the surprise when he woke up this night.

On her way home she ran into the candied prince on his way, ironically, to see Fionna at her tree house. She tried to remain inconspicuous, not quite ready to face the pink royal yet, but all her hopes were dashed as she heard him call out to her.

"Oh, Fionna, is that you?" she winced and turned around.

"Oh hi Gumball," she said curling her hand in a little, half-hearted wave.

"I was just on my way to your domicile. I've been anxious to see you since our last... parting." he said as he drew closer to her. "How have you been?" he asked genuinely, his deep purple eyes once again sucking her in. She turned quickly, not wanting to fall into the same trap as last time, and he fell into step beside her.

"I've been..." she heaved a mighty sigh and hunched into herself. "I've been okay." They reached the tree and she opened the door. "You wanna come in?" He favored her with a small smile.

"Of course." He said following her inside. She plopped on the couch and he sat beside her, leaving enough space to be proper, so he wouldn't spook her again. "As I was saying before, how have you been? I meant to come by sooner, but my royal duties got in the way." She was curling into herself again, her face screwed up like she was in pain.

"It's just been stupid, dude." And suddenly she relaxed, her head rolling back onto the back of the low couch and her arms flailing wide then coming to rest at her side. "And exhausting." she added with closed eyes.

"Oh?" The prince prompted delicately. She laboriously rolled her head over to look at him with big eyes and she replied dramatically.

"Marshall Lee replaced all my clothes." Gumball chuckled lightly.

"Remind me to ask him for photos."

"Ugh, Gumball, seriously?" she waved it off before he could reply, "Anyway, he replaced my clothes. Why does he even have so much girl clothes anyway? That perv. And then Flint showed up, which was fine til he saw Marshall and flipped out."

"He got angry merely because of Marshall's presence? How infantile." Fionna winced a bit.

"Well, the clothing Marshall swapped with mine were... a little more revealing than what I usually wear. And also Marsh took the clothes that I left on the floor right after my shower..." She trailed off but Gumball got the gist of it.

"So he assumed Marshall Lee would just disregard your privacy." He summed up.

"We got in a fight." She sighed, "And he dumped me. And I dumped him back, and hence all the stupid."

* * *

After all the emotional talk, Fionna decided that she needed some munchies and a movie.

"Wanna hang out and watch a movie PG?"

"Certainly!" He replied with gusto. Alone together watching a movie. Possibly in the dark. What man in their right mind would turn that down? Fi grabbed some popcorn and BMO and started the movie.

About halfway through she was beginning to fall asleep. All that touchy-feely crap really took it out of her. She yawned sleepily and struggled to keep her eyes open, but to no avail. Every now and then she'd startle herself awake, but the instances were growing fewer and far-between. As she snoozed Gumball continued to watch the movie, glancing at the girl every once in a while. She looked so delicate in sleep. Her hat had come undone, he'd noticed, and her hair was falling into her face. He reached over to gently tuck it back where it belonged and she sighed into his touch, unconsciously scooting towards the heat source now touching her face.

He tentatively placed an arm around her shoulders and drew her to his side, where she happily nestled into the soft cloth adorning his torso. A warmth swelled in the prince as he cuddled with the sleeping girl and let the movie continue to play.


	21. Chapter 21

The phone rang shrilly, cutting through the stillness of the living room and right into Bonnibeaux's head. He started awake, this wasn't his bedroom! He looked around for a panicked second and his eyes came to rest on the warm lump cuddled up to his side. _'Oh that's right'_ he thought, _' I fell asleep at Fionna's.'_ The phone rang again, breaking the haze around his head and as she stirred and pressed her face to his side trying to block out the urgent call of her phone he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

As the girl smushed her face into the warm body next to her trying to ignore the evil contraption ripping her from slumber, a thought kicked her brain in the butt._ 'Pillows aren't warm.'_ She sat up gently removing Gumball's arm from around her and blushing a bit, glad he was still asleep. When had she fallen asleep? When had she fallen asleep _on Gumball_? Noise rang through the room again and she winced, quickly moving to the phone and picking up.

"Hello?" she whispered.

"Fionna, what the hell did you do to my house?" A deep voice asked in a mixture of anger and amusement.

"O-oh, uh, hi Marsh." She mentally punched herself._ 'Way to be stupid Fionna.'_ For some inexplicable reason she felt like this was a delicate situation with Gumball asleep on her couch and Marshall Lee's deep voice in her ear.

" 'Uh, hi' yourself! come fix my house."

"Fix it yourself poo-brain." She snickered, "Does the widdle, bitty Vampire King need the big, strong adventurer to come fix his pwoblems for him?" She cooed into the phone, and a pink hand appeared on her shoulder.

"Who is it Fi?" Gumball said, a note of sleep clinging to his voice. She took the phone from her ear.

"It's Marsh, wants me to undo my prank."

"Let him deal with it." he said tugging her arm childishly. She put the phone back to her ear.

"I gotta go dude."

"Is that Gumball?"

"Y-yeah" Her blush was back in full force. "We fell asleep watching a movie on my couch."

"Yeah I bet you did." Marshall made kissy noises into the phone and Fionna's blush grew hotter.

"Shut up you donk! I'm going back to sleep, get out of your flipping house by yourself!" and she hung up, huffing about clueless vampire idiots. Gumball dragged her back to the couch where he laid down pulling her down with him. She, being more used to late nights than the prince, was now too keyed up to sleep. She sat down in front of him, the curve of her butt brushing gently against him as she settled herself.

"PG, Do you mind if I play BMO for a bit?" he just pulled a pillow under his head and shrugged.

"It's your place, Fionna. Do what you want." He gave her a sweet-but-sleepy smile and curled his legs up so they were slightly cupped around her. He watched her play the game for a little bit. Enjoying the pleasure of simply being in each others company. When she finally beat Hunny Bunny she let out a small whoop, jumping a bit in her seat until she remembered the prince behind her.

"Oops, sorry dude I forgot you were trying to sleep." she said with a wince. He just shrugged. This closeness between them was the only compensation he could begin to ask for, and even that seemed like too much.

Eventually she grew tired (and bored of not being able to beat Silly Sam) and stretched getting ready to head up to bed. When she went to get up she noticed that Gumball had pretty much curled himself around her. She scooted a little to the side before getting up so not to wake him and he stirred, curling an arm around her torso. Well this was awkward. How was she supposed to get up to her room now? _'oh well'_ She sighed and just laid down next to the clingy royal and fell asleep.

* * *

"Ahem" Cake stood in front of the sleeping couple on the couch puffed up and her fur standing on end. Two sets of eyes blinked open, purple eyes meeting black, and suddenly he was awfully wide awake. He removed his arm from Fionna's waist like she was on fire and scrambled up off the couch.

"Why hello there Cake!" He offered a reassuring smile as she glared at him.

"Mmhm that's right, get your paws off her." Fionna on the other hand just waved in greeting and rolled over to go back to sleep, noting in her mind that "Oh Cake is home, that's nice."

_'Cake's home!'_ her mind screamed at her. Her back went rigid and she launched herself off the couch and onto the cat, hugging and cuddling and sort of wrestling her. "Cake! where the cheese and crackers have you even been!?" Cake hugged the girl back.

"Didn't Prince Gumball tell you? He sent me on a mission to get the whoosy-whatsit from the Mystery Temple." She was eying the prince from where she was holding onto Fionna.

"No... he didn't tell me anything..." and before the girl had a chance to think about it Gumball was speaking again.

"Now that you are back, Cake, I'd like to ask the two of you ladies back to my castle. I have another important mission for you!"

* * *

"And that's why we were sleeping like that." Fionna finished recounting the past month of her life to her sister. She hefted the bag of daisy chains she was toting higher up onto her shoulder. It wasn't very heavy, and she didn't see why the prince couldn't have just taken The Morrow to deliver them to the fluffy people himself. It would have been faster. She supposes he is busy, though, and that his trip to the tree fort had probably set him back in his duties.

She simply took it with a grain of salt and enjoyed the time catching up with her surrogate sister. The fluffy people were happy to receive the daisy chains and thanked the heroine profusely. Fionna was happy that she had made them so happy but this kind of mission was the most boring thing she could think of. Where was the action? The adventure? As they left and walked home the sky began to darken, and right as they reached the warmth and safety of their tree-home the rain began to come down.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: **_Did i mention that i have the best reviewers? cuz i do_ that being said i'd like to personally thank some people. Abiddon, thanks for your thoughtful reviews it makes me smile and have hope for the world when i get well thought out and written reviews with actual critiques. HASHTAG I can't describe how happy you make me! Your drawings are the cutesttttttttttttt and of course ByProducts cuz she is my soul sister and my muse and i cant do anything without her! ok ok new chapter. its early, happy birthday or merry christmas or whatever

* * *

Fionna was swinging a couple of axes, preparing to chop the apple on top of BMO in half with her mad skills. Cake was hopping up and down releasing little 'oh's in excitement. She released one of the weapons and it spun across the room, landing with a thunk, successfully splitting the apple and even the bottom most rung of the wood plank ladder behind.

"Ooh, nice throw!" Cake purred at the younger human.

"Thanks. I've got to do _something_ today." She said sort of disgruntled. Cake put her paws on her hips.

"What about Gumball's mission we went on this morning; Delivering daisy chains to the fluffy people not enough for you?" she wheedled.

"Ugh..." Fi groaned, "Sometimes Gumball's missions can be so... lame" She punctuated the statement by throwing the other axe, and, right then, none other than the prince himself walked in.

"Hello every-" He started brightly. Then he saw the ax heading right for him as Fionna and Cake gasped in shock. With a loud wooden thunk, the axe embedded itself in the door frame and the princes hair fell as if parted.

"Oh my, It looks like you almost skronked up my dome piece!" He exclaimed good naturedly, licking a thumb and smoothing over the rift in his bubblegum locks. All better. He continued on just as brightly as before. "Boy, do I have a treat for you two! The fluffy people and I baked these in appreciation for the mission you've completed." He waved the tray a bit to indicate what he was speaking of, "They're cream puffs, try one."  
Fi reached out to grab one then thought a bit. The fluffy people were sweet but they weren't all that great at cooking, or anything really. Well, with the exception of putting themselves in harms way.

"Uh... I'd love to but... maybe later" She was quickly distracted by a noise on the roof. It sounded like footsteps. She turned her head towards the sound and gasped "What was that?" She felt something brush quickly past her face and turned back towards Gumball following the direction of the contact.

Gumball jumped a bit, having been startled, then looks down at his tray that was formerly filled with sweets. "Aww..."

"Somethings on the roof! C'mon!" Fionna said looking from Gumball to Cake and back again.

"I'm not going out there, it's wet" The cat says, as if its the most obvious thing in the whole world. Fionna looks at Gumball pleadingly, who just avoids her gaze.

"It is wet..." He says by way of explanation.

"Mhnnn..." She puffs out her cheek, annoyed at the two for their lack of enthusiasm. "Cake just get in my hat!" the cat shrugs.

"Alright, sugar, as long as I don't get wet."

"What about me?" Gumball protests. Fionna sighs exaggeratedly.

"I guess you can ride on my back."

"On your back?" He says. Under a raised eyebrow there is a look of apprehension.

"Yeah, Like a koala." and like that she was toting Gumball (who was holding the girliest umbrella ever) like a baby koala and a miniature Cake stuffed into her hat climbing up a ladder to the top of her tree-fort home. She hears the melodic sound of a guitar and as their heads reach high enough to see Gumball mutters.

"Oh, it's just_ him_." _Him_ indeed. The rain has plastered his dark hair to his pale skin, and as he opens his eyes to look at Fionna her insides begin to curl in on themselves in that_ feeling_. The one she doesn't quite understand.

"Oh, hey Fionna." He said with a shuttered gaze, still focusing more on his guitar.

"Marshall Lee!"

"Ahem." Gumball said with a frown on his face.

Marshall gasped and melodramatically bowed proclaiming to the prince, "Oh, forgive me! Hello Your Majesty!" He then proceeded to pull a cream puff out of his shirt and suck the red out of the cream filling. Scowling in disapproval, the prince addressed his champion.

"Fionna, take me back inside."

"Whaaat? Is he kidding?" The vampire threw the discolored cream puff at his rival who grunted in surprise as it slapped him in the face.

"Oh, honestly! I'm going in. Come join me when you want more _polite_ company." He said pointedly as he slid from Fionna's shoulders taking the umbrella with him. Fionna climbed up onto the roof completely.

"Be careful!" She called down the ladder. Almost as soon as the words left her lips she heard a faint

"Whoa"

"You got it?" there was no reply, so she turned to Marshall who was chuckling.

"What a wad."

"A... A gumwad?" She said quietly with a blush on her cheeks.

"Fionna!" Cake admonished.

"Let's ditch him!" he strummed a few quick chords.

"Uh"

"Lumpy Space Prince is throwing a party in the woods." He pulled the strap of the guitar above his shoulders as his head shifted into his bat form, "It's gonna be freaky nasty."

"umm" She shifted uncomfortably as the rest of his body shifted and grew into a giant bat.

"I know you're gonna say yes to me, so..." He held out a hand and curled his clawed fingers back towards himself. "Let's just go." She deliberates for a few more moments before grabbing his finger and he yanked her off the roof with a delighted "whoop". He set the girl on his furry back and flew off to the party.

Upon arriving, Marshall set the younger girl down before regaining his human shape, the two looked around taking in the party. LSP and Cinnamon Bun were dancing, Muscle Prince was head banging with a candy worm lady, Tree Trunks and Ms. Pig were playing some sort of stabbing game with a spoon, two of the marauders were rough housing, and other candy people were generally hanging out and having a good time.

"This looks fun, bunch. Come on." Marshall said as he pressed forward into the crowd, Fionna hot on his heels. He's heading towards the stage. LSP took notice and cried out in excitement.

"You guys! Marshall Lee is gonna play a song, you guys!" The purple blob was practically convulsing in excitement. The crowd began chanting the vampire's name and cheering loudly as Marshall took Fionna's hand and led her up on stage. He warms up and begins to play the tune.

"Follow my lead." He said to the young girl as he began to go through the moves he'd be doing. He decided to see how far she would take it and shook his butt at her.

"Hey!" the girl laughed and playfully pushed him. As Marshall began to sing, Cake and Fionna vocalized in harmony to the rhythm of the music.

" Good Little Girl.  
Always picking a fight with me,  
you know that I'm bad  
But you're spending the night with me...  
What do you want from my world?  
You're a good little girl. "

Marshall Trails off as Cake grows to human proportion taking Fionna's hat with her, and the girls long golden hair flows around her in waves. He offers the cat his hand and begins to dance with her as Fionna begins to sing.

"Bad little boy,"

The crowd cheers as Fionna begins to sing and Marshall Lee and Cake dance.

"That's what you're acting like  
I really don't buy  
That you're that kind of guy  
and if you are  
why do you want to hang out with me?"

Marshall Lee brought Cake into a dip, watching Fi for a reaction out of the corner of his eye. With every note that she sings his fangs are growing longer. When that still doesn't get the girls attention, he hisses. Fionna rushes over and takes Cake from his arms. He chuckles darkly and floats into the air.

"Don't you know that I'm a villain?  
Every night I'm out killing  
sending everyone runnin' like children.  
I know why you're mad at me.  
I've got demon eyes,  
and they're looking right through your anatomy  
into your deepest fears  
baby, I'm not from here.  
I'm from the Nightosphere  
to me you're clear, transparent.  
You got a thing for me girl, it's apparent. "

He flips and twists and finally lands on his last word. His head angled down. He doesn't really want to look at her face. What if he's wrong? Luckily Cake has decided she wants to sing and she runs up to the front growing disturbingly large legs and singing about sauce. During this odd display, Fionna taps Marshall on the shoulder.

"You're not so bad, you know." her eyes searched Marshall's, and he'd like those words to be true.

"Not so bad? I'm the son of a demon... and the Vampire King." He suppresses the sigh built in his lungs," It's not something I have to try at. You on the other hand..." He gives her a devilish smirk. Cake is still singing and the blonde scowls at him shaking her head.

"I'm not trying to be bad. I'm hanging out with you because you're my _friend_." And there is that word again. Friend. If that word was a person, Marshall swears he'd tear it limb from limb. But it isn't a person. So instead he eggs her on pulling out a cream puff.

"What? Like him?" Marshall blew a cloud of powdered sugar into the girls face and she spluttered and waved it away.

"No! Different!" She insists swatting at the source of the dust assaulting her senses. He chuckles as she trips over his outstretched leg and lands on the stage. She retaliated with a swift kick meant to take his feet out from under him.

"Hey! Hi yah!"

"Oh no!" He Said dramatically as he fell back onto the air and began to chuckle, hovering in a lounging position with his eyes closed. Fi got up and dropped an elbow into his stomach which actually sort of hurt. He kicked her off and she slid across the stage making a weird sort of groan. Cake finally took notice and came between the two .

"Hey, break it up you two!"

"Out of my way kitty!" Marshall replied and shoved her to one side a little rougher than he intended. Cake tipped off the stage and fell into the bushes with a yowl.

"Hey!" Fi ran after her cat-sister.

"Oh, come on! That was funny." Fionna just pushed her way through the bushes ignoring him.

"Cake! You okay?" She said worriedly picking her up.

"Yeah..."

"Come on. Let's get out of here."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: **I"M SO SORRY I DIDNT UPDATE WEDNESDAY OMG IM MAKING AN ICE QUEEN DRESS FOR ACEN AND IT EATS MY LIFE! seriously its gigantic and so much stupid you cant even comprehend. I WILL NOT MISS AN UPDATE AGAIN I PROMISE OMG

* * *

Marshall floated after the girl as she angrily walked away from the party.

"Hey! Come on... Where you goin?" He caught up and fell into her pace with her, trying to make eye contact; she just glared ahead. "What's the deal? You're missing the party! Fionna, lighten up!" She finally graced him with her gaze, though it was an infuriated one.

"Look, I don't care if you're being a jerk to me, but nobody messes with Cake." He floated around to the other side of her and two pairs eyes followed him.

"Oh, really? Well what if I just take her right now? " He said with a hint of mischief in his voice.

"What?" Fionna questioned and he snatched the shape shifting feline right out of her arms.

"Unexpected!" He flew out of her reach, cackling.

"MARSHALL!" Fionna was even more angry now, and Marshall was laughing it up. He flew through the sky and Fionna followed after on foot. He landed on a mausoleum in an old rundown grave yard, still laughing and holding Cake. Fionna entered the hallowed ground soon after.

"Cake!" she cried to her beloved sister. Marshall shifted the cat to under his arm, holding the other out to the side in a wide gesture.

"You want your Cake back? Come and get her!" He thrust his open palm to the sky as lightning flashed and his newly lengthened fangs glinted in the brief, blinding bolt of light.

Skeletal limbs began to push up out of the soil around the young adventurer. She gasped and looked around, not quite believing that Marshall Lee, her best bud in the entire galaxy, would do something like this to her. One Skeleton was up on the mausoleum with Marshall and Cake and, for a second, it looked as if it was going to attack... until it stared beat boxing.

Marshall looked up, his eyes an eerie black with an unsettling slit of red splitting them down the middle, his fangs still so large she didn't even know how he could fit them in his mouth.

"Did you think I was lying?  
I said I'm evil, without even trying!"

Fionna begins fighting the risen skeletons; taking out a few then hopping up on the tombstones and jumping past the first wave.

"already dead, so I'm not scared of dying  
Drinking the red from your heart in one sitting"

She was assaulted by a second wave of animated bones. She takes the first attacker out with two well-placed punches, the second one gets a one way ticket to knee-in-your-face city and she takes the sword from the scabbard on the dead things back.

"You think you've got me pegged, you must be kidding.  
I raise the dead up, and they do my bidding."

The dead things surround her as she tugs the rusty sword from its brittle sheath. There are only four of them. Too easy.

"Girl I'm a thousand years old, I'm a riddle  
Bad little boy, yes I'm bad, but not little."

Marshall stares, with a wicked grin, at the cat in his arms.

"uh-uh boy, what are you thinkin?" Cake said, a little nervous. When he began to cackle at her she grew larger and began to struggle against his hold. Marshall was forced to shift as well, and as they wrestled each other, Fionna fought.

She swung her borrowed sword, beheading the things quickly and ran to help Cake.

"Fionna!" the girl sheathed her sword in the ribcage of an oncoming corpse without breaking stride and calls back to her beloved mentor.

"Cake!" The cat stretched out to her,

"Grab onto my little paws!" Fionna did. She and Cake struggled to break the vampire's grip on the cat. Instead they pulled him down off the mausoleum and his chest now impaled on one of the many spears jutting up out of the ground. He let go of Cake and made this terrible shrieking noise as he shrank back to his normal form.

"Marshall?" He sucked a breath in through his teeth,

"This is bad guys... This is really bad." he held his chest gently and lays there on the roof, eyes clenched in pain as he attempts to breath with an impaled lung.  
"Marshall!" the sun peaked over the horizon and his skin began to boil. Unfortunately, it's all he could do to turn his head away. Cake takes mercy on the boy and stretches herself to create some shade. Fionna knelt next to her injured friend.

"Come on, you gotta be ok!" she said a little desperately. He let out a light chuckle.

"I think this is it for me Fionna, so why don't you just admit it? You're in love with me." The girl gasped at this unexpected request. Why would he say that? Why now, when he's dying and the only consequence could be messing her up for ever? She looked down at the building she was sitting on, hands in her lap, hair in her face, and tears welling in her eyes.

"I get that you flirt with me all the time and it's funny and whatever... but you're doing that now!" She bunches the fabric of her hat in her shaky fingers. She looks up and some of the tears have begun to leak out. "What are you trying to do to my head?!" He looks up at her startled, not having expected this sort of response. "You think I've got some little crush on you? Well for however long we've got left, for once will you just drop it you freak!?" she yelled the last part as Marshall Lee sat up, a panicked expression on his face.

He quickly pulled the stake from his chest and threw it aside.

"Faking it! Faking it! Okay? My shirt is, like, filled with cream puffs." He opens up his shirt to reveal a bunch of crushed up pastries. Cake sighs with relief.

"Oh goodness!"

"Glob Fionna, You're like the realest person I ever met." He said, and he was sort of emotionally exhausted for her. He pushed his bangs aside and stared at her. She looked relieved for all of two seconds, then she quickly wound up and socked him in the face.

"Ow, my cheek meat!" that was going to leave a bruise. She was laughing and crying with her mitts up advancing slowly towards the prankster vampire.

"Quit clownin', Fionna." she just kept walking towards him as he scooted back words. "Fi-Fionna?" She pulled back to punch again. "FIONNA!"  
SMACK! She hit him. And then she hit him again. And then some more. Her hysterical laughter was sort of frightening. If it were easy to make him bleed he probably would have been covered in blood head to toe, but the girl made due with bruises. When she felt he'd had enough of a beating she fell upon him and clung tightly to him. Then she smacked him again. Hard. Across the face. Then it was back to hugging and crying into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and rested his chin on her head.

"Too far?"

"You think? Dummy," She pulled away to glare at him in the eye. He winced. "If you EVER do something like this again you will wish you actually HAD gotten a stake to the heart and died!" she said fiercely, her eyes (red from crying) only added to the effect. He only nodded in reply, glad she didn't seem to want to hit him again. After a few minutes of somewhat-tense silence Marshall opened his mouth.

"Can we go somewhere away from the sun now? I don't want to actually die."

Fionna couldn't help but burst into laughter and Cake toted them back to the treefort.


	24. Chapter 24

Her blade whistled through the air and hit the vial of green goo that science cat had thrown at her. Fighting these creatures everyday was so math. The goo splattered all over her and she turned into a tiny little butterfly!

She began to fly away as fast as her newly formed wings could take her. Dodging swipes from furry paws until the spell wore off. She landed on her feet and quickly spun around; bringing her sword to bear, she sliced right through the animals neck. Not taking too much time to gloat, she quickly turned to the shark and engaged him. As she was meeting him blow for blow, she tripped and pitched forward. The shark swung at her with his baseball bat. She turned and twisted as she fell, landing awkwardly and curling into herself waiting for blows that... Weren't coming. She peeked up and saw an arm outstretched, the hand presumably thrust into the creatures neck. With a small grunt and sickening popping and ripping noises, the vampire king tore the sharks head off. Fionna levered herself up and looked up at him.

"Hey! What'd you do that for? I totally had him right where I wanted him!" She cried, a bit annoyed that he had ruined the fight for her. He snorted and rolled his eyes, shaking the blood from his hand.

"You're welcome" the bodies began to twitch and grope their way towards their heads, and Marshall recoiled slightly looking to Fi. The blonde shrugged from her spot on the ground and groaned.

"They come every day at four, on the dot. Then at five, on the dot, I cut their heads off. I don't usually stick around but they come back every day so I guess this is normal." She sat up, rolling her shoulders and wrists, turning at the waist, checking herself for any serious injuries. Minus a twinge in her lower back everything seemed just fine. And the pain she felt was so small she simply chose disregard it.

"Don't you get bored of it?" He asked as she bent over to wipe the dirt and grass from her bottom half.

"No. I mean, I'M not here every day, and also it's like good practice or whatever." The vampire nodded.

"So what'd you call me for anyway?" He twirled his manly umbrella ("it is NOT a parasol! It's got skulls and bones on it and stuff!") and ruffled his hair.

"I need help setting up a projection screen for movie night! I want to do it outside tonight."

"Cool" in all honesty, Marshall lee had forgotten it was movie night. Not that he didn't enjoy movie night, his thoughts had been otherwise occupied with the monumental shift in the cosmos that was Fionna's-a-girl.

Sometimes the knowledge frightened him, sometimes he wanted to laugh hysterically, sometimes it made him all warmed up inside, and sometimes it made him all these things at the same time. Right now he was ok, functioning properly. Well, maybe he'd just ripped a land sharks head off and he was watching it twitch away from the girl, but other than that everything was peachy.

"So where are we setting this shiz up?" He asked with a smirk.

* * *

Almost as soon as all the heavy lifting was done Gumball showed up with the projection equipment.

"Hello, Fionna!" He gave her his most dashing smile, she smiled back and Marshall snorted. "Marshall Lee" the prince barely nodded in his direction, a cool tone to his voice.

"Sup, bubble butt" a wide grin spread across the vampires face as the candy prince grew red with the attempt to hold back his anger. Instead of dignifying his remark with a response the pink man turned to Fionna.

"Where would you like me to put my equipment, my dear?" Marshall started snickering and Gumball glared at him.

"Geez Bon-Bon, you haven't even taken her on a date!" His laughter was now full force.

"Just what, exactly, are you implying, imp?" Gumball shot venomously back at the overly amused vampire.

"Oh lord, the prince of all that's prissy and pink doesn't even recognize a sex joke when he hears one. That's rich!" He laughed heartily "Oh Fionna! My feelings for you are so very large!" He said while gesturing to his crotch lewdly, and then continued in a falsetto voice, "oh Gumball, don't touch me there!"

Gumball's face was turning so red he was likely to explode. Even Fionna, being used to Marshall's teasing, was growing red-faced and tugging on her bunny ears.

"Marshall quit being a lamewad and take Gumball to set up his stuff!" His face dropped.

"Aww c'mon Fi, I don't wanna."

"Do it." She said in her no-nonsense voice.

"Butts"

"I'm none too thrilled to be alone with you either" Gumball muttered under his breath, then an idea hit him. "Actually Marshall," he said in a polite manner, "why don't you just set it up for me?"

Marshall was not about to give the friend-zoned priss any alone time with Fionna, even if she already rejected him.

"You know I'm no good with this technical crap. You have to do it. Come on." And he floated towards the projection booth while Fionna went to get snacks.

"How do you suppose I am to get in there?" Gumball questioned an amused vampire as he stared up at the booth he was supposed to be setting up the equipment in. Quite literally two seconds after the words left his mouth he was rudely lifted into the air. In his surprise he almost dropped the projector, the most essential thing for movie night.

"Marshall Lee! A little warning, please!" Gumball sputtered from the floor of the small room, clutching the projector to his chest for dear life.

"Here's a warning; she's not into you. So how about you give up before you mess her head up again." Gumball gently set the projector to the side, got up, brushed the dirt from his clothing, and proceeded to set stuff up for the night ahead.

"I don't believe that what transpires between Fionna and I is any of your business."

"As her best friend I'm making it my business. She's just not into you dude." The prince paused and chose his words carefully. It would not do to give the vampire false ideas.

"Oh yes, that explains why she slept beside me not two nights ago."

"So she must be madly in love with me, then. She sleeps with me all the time." Marshall grinned evilly at the prince as he grew angry.

"Manipulating her as she is about to sleep is hardly the same as her willingly sleeping beside me!" Now it was Marshall's turn to be angry.

"You think I would do something so low to somebody? To _Fionna_?" his fangs grew longer in his anger and he hissed menacingly at the prince.  
The prince, a little afraid but not willing to back down, began to set up the equipment.

"It's not like she would date YOU anyway."

"Just what the flip's that supposed to mean, pinky?" The grey skinned teen hissed.

"Marshall, you're undead, you don't age."

"Whatever. Just hurry up and finish." He said, disgruntled. He was aware of the problem and was dealing with it in his own way. Besides, Fi didn't want to date anybody right now so they all had equal chance. By equal he meant zero.

By the time the two guys had finished in the projection booth, the rest of the movie goers had begun to show up. They exited the booth with a mutual glare and an unspoken truce. Fighting in front of Fionna would most likely get them both a sound tongue-lashing, quite possibly a butt-whooping too.

The two feuding royals headed to opposite ends of the make-shift theater; at least that's what they would have done if a certain fiery prince hadn't chosen right then to make his appearance.

"Flint!" Fionna hadn't expected to see him ever again. She wasn't quite sure what to do with this new turn of events or how she felt about it.

"Drama bomb!" LSP exclaimed from somewhere behind the girl.

"Um, Hi?" He curled his hand in a wave, a sheepish smile on his face.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: **Abiddon, I am taking the more pranks thing into consideration but i already had like 10 chapters written ahead so forgive me that i cant use all your ideas right away. I'm not going to scrap ten thousand words. plus i love writing dramatic bullshit so there's that too. anyway here have some fluff and tension and _yes_ a prank too!

~NFE

* * *

Marshall hissed and Gumball folded his arms, both men glaring at the younger prince from their new positions at Fionna's side.

"Is it ok that I'm here?" He asked the girl, scratching the back of his head and looking down at his boots.

"No" Pink and grey lips moved in unison. Fi smacked both of them lightly on the shoulder.

"I guess so, I mean it was an open invitation..." She trailed off. How exactly are you supposed to deal with ex boyfriends? She has never had to before, but she did genuinely care for him, even if it could only ever be as a friend. A relieved smile spread across his face and they all moved to take a seat, all three of the boys now hovering around Fionna. Flame Prince being there made the whole night a lot more dangerous; for Fionna and just in general. These old movie reels would ignite so quickly.

She sat with the three of them surrounding her and fidgeted uncomfortably. Maybe inviting everyone over so soon had been a bad idea. She felt like she could cut the tension with her fingernail, and that didn't even make sense. Her fingernails weren't even sharp. Why did she even think that? Suddenly she was very interested in the state of her fingernails. The short, dirt-encrusted things on the ends of her fingers. She didn't even get to enjoy the movie and relax. She felt like her every breath was being monitored and it had her so very on edge.

Some time during the movie, Marshall decided to prop himself up on her head. She immediately felt the others eyes on her. It was as if there were two hot brands on her, burning into her skin. She started giggling nervously and excused herself.

"I, uh, gotta go to the bathroom. I drank soooooooo much soda." She said as she scurried off to the tree house, leaving the three semi-alone.  
She sat inside for a minute or so, thinking about how she could mellow out this situation. Maybe she could go sit by LSP! Nobody liked sitting near him because he always talked all through movies. But Fionna would, to get away from the tension. She exited the treehouse again, and took the seat nearest the tree house(which happened to be right next to LSP) and reclined into the seat and readied herself to watch the rest of the movie in (relative) peace.

When the movie was over, she thanked everyone for coming as they left. While she was picking up the blankets and popcorn bowls someone cleared their throat behind her. She turned around to see Flint, his hands clasped behind his back and his face down turned. He peaked up at her and noticed he had successfully garnered her attention.

"Uh hi," he said with a nervous smile, "you need help cleaning up?"

"How are you gunna help?"she asked , a half smile crossing her face, " you'll burn everything." He blushed.

"Actually I just wanted to apologize while the other two weren't around"

"Flint, you don't have to-" she started, a fresh blush springing to her cheeks.

"Yes I do! I was a real butt guy, look- I'm just sorry, okay?" He looked away. Fionna tried to stifle her laughter, snorting into the palm of her hand, and his head whipped back up, anger plain on his features. "Is my apology funny to you?"

"No dude, I'm just happy!" She giggled some more. "I was worried I'd lost a good friend. Forever." His furrowed brow smoothed and he tentatively smiled back at her.

Marshall and Gumball came floating back down from gathering the projector, bickering back and forth between themselves until they noticed the two younger kids sitting and talking. Marshall set the pink royal gently on the floor and they made their way over to the two, Marshall rolling up his sleeves menacingly, and Gumball had a sharp glare on his face. That is, until Fionna was alerted to their presence and she turned around and told them the good news.

"Me and FP are friends again!" She flopped towards them, hanging on them in a hug of happiness.

"That's great, Fionna!" Gumball managed with fake enthusiasm.

"Yeah. Great." Marshall followed, a little less thrilled. The prince of fire stood.

"Well, Fionna, I think it's time for me to go home." She turned back to him and waved.

"I'm glad you came!" She said happily. He waved as well.

"So am I."

* * *

Fi woke with a start, her vision full of an angry vampire face.

"What. Did. You. Do?" Marshall bit out.

"Go away Marshall I'm sleeping." She rolled over and fluffed her pillow, then nestled back into it closing her eyes. Marshall Lee was having none of it. He grabbed her by the ankle, yanked her rudely from her cozy bed of furs, and held her upside down in the air, eyes dark and angry, little pricks of red in the center, narrowed on the sleepy bunny of a girl.

"All of my shoes. What did you _do_?" on the last word his face went all creepy, mouth splitting at the edges, hair standing on end, teeth growing longer, the whole bit. She laughed in his face.

"I didn't realize you were so sensitive about your wardrobe, maybe you _are_ a queen." He let go of her ankle, letting her drop in a heap on her bed head, first. "Ow! dude are you actually _trying_ to hurt me? I could've snapped my neck."

"My shoes are all too small Fionna."

"Its not like you walk in them anyway, what's it matter." She said grumpily, tucking herself back into her furs.

"Fionna" He hissed her name and was promptly smacked in the face with a pillow.

"Marshall Lee, not only are you in my girls room after decent hours but you woke me up." Cake said dangerously.

"Fine,_ cat_," he spat, "I'll take her elsewhere then." He grabbed the sleepy adventurer and hauled her out of bed and out the window. She crossed her arms and sleepily pouted.

"Marshall_ Lee_," she whined, "Couldn't this have waited til tomorrow?" she was greeted with silence, and they flew in silence till they reached his small home. He flew into his bedroom window and tossed her onto the bed. She landed with a small "oof".

"Fix them"

"I can't" She yawned.

"What do you mean 'you can't'? You better do _something_. Fionna, my _shoes_." he hissed at her again.

"Relax, baby. It's a spell, it'll wear off." She yawned some more. "Way to over react." She added dryly, but the sarcasm was lost in her sleepiness. "Your bed smells good..." She said absently as she began to fall asleep on it.

He was relieved. Simone, the Ice Queen, sent him shoes every year. Maybe she didn't remember their past, or why she did it, but that was one thing she did remember. His shoes were important to him. Even more so than his hair. With his panic subsiding, the humor of the situation collapsed on him and he flopped on the bed next to his sleeping friend. He chuckled lightly and watched her sleep, eventually drifting off himself.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N:** I'm sorry about not updating as much as I used toooooo my cosplays for acen took over my life (I looked fabulous in each and every single one of them ESPECIALLY ICE QUEEN OMG) and then after that i had to deal with a super hard blow to my ego and then i had to cuddle with my fiance cuz he demands cuddles LOL but anyway I'm sorry and I'm back. so here's another chapter, sorry for the no prank again but there's more stuff coming so please be patienttttttttttttt I'm building to pranks and trying to build into relationships and stuff

* * *

Morning came and with it rose Fionna. She sat up, stretching and yawning widely. Gently removing herself from the bed, she padded over to Marshall's dresser and opened her designated drawer to find it empty.

_'Oh yeah,'_ she thought,_ 'I emptied it after our fight. Well Marshmallow won't mind me wearing some of his clothes._' She rummaged through his closet and pulled out one of his flannels. She slipped off her night clothes to reveal her underthings. Being a lady of adventure, she only owned one kind; plain and functional. And she may have been embarrassed had she known another kind existed, or that Marshall lee would see them. She turned around pulling the shirt closed and buttoning it up as Marshall stirred and sat up in his bed. He blinked twice and pinched himself on the arm.

_'Nope, I'm awake'_ he thought to himself as Fionna finished buttoning up his shirt. She looked up and smiled softly at him.

"Good morning Marshy." Not expecting such a soft greeting after the show she'd just unexpectedly given him, he blushed and coughed into his hand.

"Good morning." she tugged the collar of the shirt and twisted, looking at herself in a mirror.

"Y'know, it kinda fits me pretty well."

"Uh, yeah." he said dumbly, finally averting his eyes. "Here, let me find you some pants." He floated up off the bed and towards the closet, towards Fionna. The blanket pooled under him on the bed and she noticed his state of undress.

"Thanks dude." She was embarrassed and she wasn't. This is her best guy friend, and they do everything together. She's seen him in various states of undress, and he's seen her, so why does this time feel so different? She shoved those thoughts to the back of her mind because this is Marshall. He doesn't even _have_ boy parts. He _can't_. Because she never thinks about that kind of stuff. Not even a little bit. He pulled a tiny pair of black jeans out of his closet and handed them to her.  
"Try these on, I mean they are-were- Ash's, but she's not coming back here ever. Um, sorry to give you some of her clothes, it's just all I've got," He grinned "Unless you want me to pull out one of those costumes for you." She took the pants and shoved him.

"Shut up you!" She ran to the bathroom and slammed the door, shimmying into skinny jeans in front of him seeming somehow more indecent than being in just a shirt. When she came out Marshall was no longer upstairs in his bedroom. She peeked her head out of the hole in the floor to the living room, but he wasn't in there either. She grabbed the ledge and flipped down, hitting her legs on the frame of the hole and making more noise than she intended. Why would girls wear pants like this? They were hard to bend in. What if she had to defend against some sort of evil monster and found herself in a limbo contest... to the death? She'd be screwed.

She dropped to the floor, landing silently on her feet, bringing her arms up, ready to fight and peering around for Marsh's hiding form. But he wasn't there, wasn't waiting to attack. A yummy smell met her nose and a low, musical voice came from the kitchen.

"Who'll be my Montague now, to this broken Capulet, how?" Marshall was frying up some eggs and bacon and singing, "How, how if not for you?" He hummed a bit and then picked up the lyrics again as he shook the pan a bit, "Don't you want love, Don't you want love, I'm your biggest fan, It's so good to finally meet ya, I deserve a little more, Wouldn't you say-oh, ay-oh, ay-oh."

Fionna bobbed her head and picked up the rhythm and began to drop a steady beat for him with her mad beat boxing skills. This, however, startled him and he stopped singing altogether.

"Awww, why'd you stop, Marshmallow?" She whined poking him in the ribs, "It was starting to get good." he turned his head all the way around on his neck and made a face at her. She giggled and hopped away from him.

"I stopped cuz it's not finished yet, and its personal. You have a habit of showing off my personal, unfinished songs." He stuck his tongue out at her and she blushed.

"You're mom was sucking all the souls in Aaa into her big, fat mouth! I had to do something!" She squeaked. He waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah, ok girly. I've heard it already."

"Breakfast is served." He said suavely, sliding the food onto a plate and setting it in front of her at the table and bowing deeply at the waist. He sat at the table with her quietly while she ate her morning meal.

"Wow, Marshall Lee, I didn't know you could cook."

"I can do a lot of things you've probably never thought to ask about." he yawned.

"Oh yeah? Like what?" she questioned, stuffing a whole egg in her mouth. He smiled sleepily.

"Like sleep during the day, like other vampires." he gave her a lop-sided grin.

"You're the one who dragged me here and then fell asleep with me in the middle of the night" She stabbed her fork in his direction.

"So you'd rather I drag you here and fall asleep with you in the middle of the day?" he countered, his grin becoming a smirk.

"Dude, I was raised by cats, I could sleep 16 hours a day and still want to sleep more." He laughed, she had totally missed the point of his joke. She blushed angrily. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, It's nothing," he said reaching over and yanking on a bunny ear.

"Knock it off, Marsh" She said while swatting his hand away.

"Make me girly" he replied, floating up and grabbing the other ear. He floated behind her and her head tipped backwards. When her eyes met his he smirked and she blushed, quickly turning away with a mumbled "dweeb".

Just then, before Marshall could reply, there was a knock on the door.

"Hold on, I gotta get that" he said looking annoyed and he released her hat and floated towards the door.

"I thought it might be you, cat." He said lazily. She glared at him with he fists on her hips.

"My girl still here?"

"Maybe, it's not my job to keep track."

"Who is it, Marshall?"

"So maybe she is," he shrugged, "what's it to ya?" Cakes glare grew harder and she reached up, wrapped a paw around his bare neck, and pulled him down to her level.

"Fi may be oblivious to your game but I see what you're doin," she whispered menacingly, "I may not be able to kill you, but if you hurt one hair on her precious head I WILL make you wish you were dead. Got that?" just then, as the cat was releasing a rather nonplussed vampire, Fionna came into the room.

"Who is it? Oh, hey Cake." She waved to the diminutive ball of fur and sass.

"Hiya baby, ready to go?" Fi shrugged.

"Yeah I guess, hey, did you know Marshall can cook?" Cake eyed the vampire appraisingly.

"You cooked my baby breakfast?" It was Marshall's turn to shrug.

"Just eggs and bacon, no big deal."

"Well Bye Mar-mar, Catchya later!" Fi exited the small home and Cake followed, glancing surreptitiously over her shoulder and closing the door behind her.


	27. Chapter 27

Fionna and Cake bounded across the land of Aaa in hot pursuit of some action (of the adventure-y kind). She held onto the cat's fur as the wind whipped her bangs around. During the morning she had spent at Marshall's place, Cake had received a distress call from Wildberry Prince. Someone had bewitched the local daisy garden into a bunch of acid-spitting, monster flowers, and they needed help fast! As they neared their destination, Cake's magically massive body began to shrink and Fionna stood up, leaping off the cat into a full run. She slid her runic blade out of it's sheath and beheaded the first monstrous daisy before it even knew she was there.

The flower creature shrieked as it's overly-large, daisy-like head fell from its leafy shoulders and all the others turned to look. Fionna met their gazes with a feral grin as she flicked her blade to remove the chlorophyll-like goo that stuck to it. Cake, paying no heed to her younger sister, grew large and began stomping on them. The creatures hissed and began to charge the tiny adventurer. She licked her lips and checked her grip on her sword and charged into the fray. She dodged the gigantic, stomping paws and flowed from victim to victim, tearing into them with her sword and screaming with the thrill of battle. For each Flower she cut down two more took its place and soon she found herself acid-burned and surrounded. Cake was quickly becoming overwhelmed as well, the creatures beginning to climb up her elongated limbs.

Brandishing her sword to keep the creatures at bay, she turned in a slow circle while examining her options. One of the braver blossom beasts tried to get her while her back was turned. She quickly snapped around and took its head off, as she did this however, the rest set in on her.

"Oh shit." She said out loud not even worrying, in that moment, about watching her language. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead of impact, heat brushed her face. She opened her eyes, confused, to see Flint spinning around her, gracefully dispatching the offending creatures with flames. She watched in awe as he danced around the battlefield making quick work of the plant-based monsters. She was, once again, struck, and her heart melted a little bit. She shook her head and jumped back into the now even battle with fervor, but keeping an eye on the royal.

He bent at the waist bringing his leg up in an arc of flames. Placing his hands on the ground he began to spin, forcing the creatures back as the fire licked and consumed their leafy limbs. He propelled himself towards the nearest group with a burst of flame from his palms and landed gracefully in the center. Dropping quickly to the ground, he swept his extended leg around, shooting flames and burning them alive. With the rest of the evil creatures focusing on the bigger threat, Cake and Fionna stood back and watched as he finished the last of them off.

The Flame Prince stood up straight, adjusted his robes, and dusted his hands off. Fionna stood there, staring at him starry eyed til Cake elbowed her.

"Uh, thanks for the help dude." She said, picking at one of the holes now burned into the shirt she had borrowed. He favored her with a soft smile.

"It was my pleasure."

"How'd you even know we were here?" Cake questioned with an eyebrow raised. The prince shrugged.

"I heard screeching and was interested?" Just then, a slightly trembling little berry came out of his tree home, Fionna rushed to the young man, sliding by Flint without so much as a glance.

"Wildberry Prince! How do you fare?" She asked all properly. Flint wondered if she always spoke like this with princes. She certainly had never with him. Not that he minded, he was simply curious. In a weak, high-pitched voice the prince replied that he would be fine he just needed a moment. She then stood up and began organizing clean up. Flint was amazed. Not only was she their hero, she was clearly a leader. She could probably have her pick of the princes, though it seemed she had only ever had eyes for Gumball and, later, himself. She had all the berry people stack the flowers up in what seemed to be a bonfire pit.

"Would you do the honors?" She asked with a slight bow and a hand gesture to the pit full of decaying plant matter, her eyes sparkling in merriment.

How could he say no to that face.

"I suppose." He lifted a finger and shot some flames into the pit and quickly it grew into a steady blaze. Her eyes grew sparkly again and she turned to him gushing.

"Your powers are just _so cool_, I could kick so many buns if I could control fire!" Flint didn't know how to respond so he just smiled at her. Wildberry Prince took that opportunity to steal Fionna's attention.

"Will you be staying for the banquet?" She shook her head.

"Sorry dude, I gotta get home and change. I'm all sticky and burned up- from the acid!- and stuff." She excused herself, Wildberry Prince wilted a bit.

"Oh okay, next time then."

"Definitely WP" she and Cake excused themselves and the turned to leave.

"Do you mind if I accompany you? I'm headed the same way." Flint quickly caught up to them and Fi smiled at him.

"No dude, of course you can come with us."

* * *

She walked into her tree home after saying goodbye to Flint and a horrible smell smacked her in the face. She gagged almost losing her lunch. Cake, being a cat and therefore having sharper senses than her human sister, stopped father from the tree house and began to gag. Fionna had chalked it up to another hairball and had continued into the stench pit that was her home.

A deep chuckle came from outside where Marshall floated, wide, aviator sunglasses on and a hoodie drawn tightly shut with the brim of a hat sticking out to shade the rest of his face. Fionna glared at him above a pinched nose and her mouth screwed up in disgust.

"Really Marshall? A stink bomb?" Her voice was distorted like her nasal passages and Marshall began to chuckle louder. She just stomped her tiny foot at him. "Where are we going to stay while this airs out you donk?" He floated closer to her shrugging.

"You could stay with me if you want." Fionna snorted, dismissing that suggestion.

"Like Cake would really go for that." She rolled here eyes.

"Who said the cat was invited?"

"Hey this is her place, too, that you stunk up."

"Well it was my house first, You two are just squatters." He said examining his fingernails. She huffed and stalked away from the tree towards the Candy Kingdom. She couldn't stop the tiny smile that spread across her lips though. If it had been somebody else's house it may even have been hilarious.

"Where're you going, squirt?"

"To the palace, PG will put us up for a few days." she replied over her shoulder and Marshall Lee trailed behind her.


	28. Chapter 28

Once at the Candy Palace, the situation explained, Fionna was shown to the same suite of rooms she had occupied during the recovery from her leg wound. Marshall Followed her inside and let down his hood. Pulling off his hat, he shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair a few times to get that perfectly messy look he usually sported. Fionna, Still needing to shower and change, went to the wardrobe to see what was in it. To her delight (and surprise) it was full of a variety of blue clothing. She pulled out a tank top and some blue shorts. Digging into the sock drawer, she grabbed some that had thick blue and white stripes all the way up. She went over to the bathroom door and as she shut it she pointed at her eyes with two fingers and then at Marshall.

"Don't even try anything, Fang-face, or I'll beat you," She held up a fist, "With my mitts"

He held his hands up in front of him, a gesture of innocence, but was struggling to hold back his laughter.

* * *

When she emerged from the steam-filled bathroom she was towel-drying her waves of golden-blonde hair and Marshall was lounging on the air, patiently waiting. He eyed her out of the corner of one eye and then spoke.

"So whats on the agenda for tonight, girly?" She paused, taking a moment to think. She put the towel on her shoulders and pulled the length of her hair up and over it so it would rest over the towel and off of her shirt while it dried.

"I dunno." She sat on the bed with crossed legs and looked towards her friend, "What are your plans tonight?"

"I don't really have any." He shrugged. He watched as a grin that could only be described as evil grew on Fionna's face. He found he liked that expression on her. "Whatchya thinkin' Fi?"

"Wanna Prank on PG?"

"Is it Tuesday?" Fionna's face screwed up, wondering what relevance that had, and if it was indeed Tuesday.

"No-" She began to question when Marshall interrupted.

"then YES!" She giggled at the vampire's lame joke and they set out for the royal kitchens, Fionna explaining her idea along the way.  
When they had gotten what they needed from the kitchen the two of them split up, Fionna to distract Gumball and a snickering Marshall Lee to do the dirty work. She found the candy prince in his private kitchen, baking up some cookies.

"Heya PG" She said, sliding onto the counter behind him. He started a bit at her greeting, having been completely immersed in his cooking. He adjusted his safety goggles ("Sometimes new recipes yield unexpected results") and smoothed his apron, turning to Fionna.

"Why hello there!" He greeted amicably, "I was hoping to surprise you with some delicious pastries, but it seems you've beat me to the punch." He chuckled lightly at his own joke and Fi followed suit not to be rude.

"Whatcha makin' Preegles?" she leaned forward her hands resting on the counter at her sides, looking into the oven.

"I was baking up a batch of red velvet cookies. I am aware it isn't new, but I thought Marshall Lee would be hanging around again so it occurred to me I should probably try to accommodate." A timer dinged and PG slipped his oven mitts on and pulled the cookies from the oven. Fionna sneaked behind him and quickly snatched one of the steamy treats, burning her fingers but giggling as she retreated with her captured cookie.  
She blew on the cookie and bit into it, her lips lifting up as she hissed and huffed around the cookie, trying simultaneously to blow on it, not burn herself, and eat it. Once she managed to scarf it all down she blew on her pink fingers and the Prince tutted at her.

"When are you going to learn to wait until they are cooled?"

"When are _you_ gunna learn that_ I _just kicked some hot cookie butt?... Not hot as in sexy... hot as in warm. Not that I'm thinking of butts" She chuckled and a good natured smile brushed the prince's features. The two friends relocated to a small but cozy table Gumball had had set up in the kitchen for just these occasions and were chatting with eachother when Marshall floated through the door.

"Where've you been? I lost you in the hallway and didn't bother to look." Fionna threw at the vampire with a smirk on her face. Marshall loved that look. It made him want to kiss her until her brain was mush and her body was on fire. He mentally shook himself, this was for show and he had to get with it or their prank would be ruined.

"Oh, you know, around." He shrugged noncommittally. "I got hungry and there's lots of red around here so I just went to find my fave shade" He sent a wicked grin towards an aggravated Gumball. He then spotted the cookies. "Dude! Red Velvet! These are the bomb!" Gumball just sniffed in distaste. Secretly though, he was proud that his friend enjoyed his cookies.

After a little more chatting, Gumball stood up, excusing himself. He had to get to sleep so he could wake up bright and early.

"Night Gumball!"

"Yeah, Good Night, Pinky" His friends said.

He walked down the hall to his bedroom. What did he really hope to gain from pursuing Fionna? Obviously he adored the girl, that was without question. He knew, however, that he could never truly give her the affection she deserved. Could he? Yet he could not stand to see her in the arms of another man. That was selfish of him and he knew it, but he couldn't muster up the effort to care. When he stepped into his shower, he turned on the warm water and let it wash over him. Eyes closed, he scrubbed and cleaned the cares of the day away. Upon finishing his shower he was so exhausted that he simply ran a brush through his gummy locks without even so much as a glance in the mirror and fell asleep alone in his big, empty bed.


	29. Chapter 29

Gumball woke up refreshed and ready for another day. He sat up and stretched, yawning widely, and ran a hand through his hair. He shuffled himself into the bathroom, reaching for his toothbrush and toothpaste in a way born of routine. It took a few moments before he caught sight of himself in the mirror. At first he merely registered his reflection but then he did a double take. His beautiful pink hair and skin were all splotchy with green. He dropped his tooth brush and a high pitched screech bubbled up out of his throat.

* * *

Not too far away, Fionna and Marshall Lee were messing around. Sparring lightly to warm Fionna up for the day when they heard the screech. The girls body tensed as she ascertained where it came from.

"That sounded like Gumball!" She took off sprinting up the stairs of the palace, sword drawn, ready for action. She burst through his bedroom door, eyes quickly scanning for any immediate threat as the hysterical monarch flopped out of his bathroom, still screaming like a little girl.

"Gumball, Whats wrong?" She cried out rushing over to him, setting her sword down and trying to comfort the inconsolable ruler. He hid his face behind his hands.

"Don't look at me! I'm hideous!" He practically sobbed. It was then that her adrenaline subsided and Fionna noticed the green painting over normally pink features. She pressed her hand to her mouth trying to stifle the giggles. Marshall Lee chose that time to float in. He caught sight of the distressed monarch and began to laugh as well.

Gumball stood up and brushed himself off in embarrassment. "It's not polite to laugh at someone who is clearly suffering from The Rot." He sniffed and was greeted with laughter from _both_ of his companions. He gaped at Fionna, who was usually so much more compassionate than that. She caught sight of his open mouthed stare and laughed harder, rolling around on the floor.

"Would one of you _please_ tell me what is so funny?" He was beginning to get angry. "This is a very serious condition!"

"Oh calm your candy, bubble butt." Marshall snorted an evil smirk quirking his lips, "Its just your green apple punch mix, it should wash out in a week or so." Red was added to the pallet of colors upon the princes visage. He stood up, and angrily walked to his closet, Picked out an outfit, and closed himself into the bathroom. Fionna and Marshall just looked at each other and began to laugh again.

On the other side of the door, Gumball sighed. Another prank of his had failed. Spectacularly, it seemed. No matter what he did, the two of them would always prank him. Their relationship was actually what Gumball was jealous of, however. The way Fionna just _relied_ on Marshall Lee with no questions asked. It seemed, sometimes, that all she relied on the prince for were his baking skills and to be kidnapped. He could be a confidant though, too, and he wanted to be.

* * *

The next morning the prince awoke bright and early and invited Fionna to a private brunch. His plan was to formulate a prank the two of them could pull together against Marshall Lee. He thought and thought and thought and thought but nothing was coming to him. Suddenly something popped into the prince's brain. He grinned wickedly and summoned Peppermint Maid, his brunch would have to be put on hold, he had to work on this brilliance right away. He sent the small candy to fetch Fionna and also a whole bunch of glitter.

Pulling on a lab coat and some safety goggles, he went down to his little used laboratory to begin the tedious calculations for a glitter bomb- non-lethal of course. He had used one to decorate for a ball once, the results were, ahem, a little more flamboyant than expected, but it would be just perfect for pranking the Vampire King. Being particularly consumed with the need to best that vulgar ruffian, the pink prince did not hear the door click shut, and was startled to feel the weight of a hand on his shoulder. He jumped in his seat and began to turn.

"Oh, Fionna, you gave me quite a fright!"

* * *

Fionna was walking down the hall, arms full with a giant bucket of glitter. Pink glitter. Peps Maid had shoved it into her arms asking her in her awkward spindly voice to take it to Gumball. Fionna had simply shrugged in acceptance and turned to go to the ballroom when the hard candy maid had directed her to the little used science wing. she made her way through the castle, clumsily spilling glitter and stumbling over carpet edges. when she finally came to the only lab PG has ever used (during that one year stretch of scientific enthusiasm) she found the door slightly ajar, which she thought was weird. But PG is weird when he gets into his science-y fits. She shouldered her way into the room, the giant bucket of glitter obscuring her vision.

"Hey Gumball, wanna help me with this?" she struggled over to the nearest workbench and dropped it unceremoniously onto the counter top where it wobbled dangerously before ultimately settling itself down, glitter having been spewed everywhere. Fionna huffed at the lack of response and attempted to brush the magenta glitter from her shirt. "Really PG? No response at all?" She turned around to level a glare at him for his uncharacteristic behavior and was met with an all too familiar scene that she'd oddly been missing as of late.

The floor was littered with stalagmites of ice (beginning to melt) and there was a large hole in the wall. Judging by the number of jagged spikes, PG had put up more of a fight than usual. Not that he was utterly incapable of putting up a fight, Fi was aware that the prince was strong in his own right, he just usually allowed himself to be captured more easily in order to not damage his castle. It was costly and ate up lots of candy resources. The girl cracked her knuckles and jumped out of the hole in the side wall, it was either time to drink cocoa or beat on some ice cougars, and she was all out of cocoa.

* * *

"Honestly, can we reschedule? This is very inconvenient for me." Gumball said to the crazy woman who had kidnapped him. He tested his ice shackles, his face drawn in a frown of annoyance. The Ice Queen tittered at him in her annoying, girlish laughter sort of way.

"Oh my dear Gumball, your smooth talking is really setting my heart a flutter!" She adjusted him in her arms so that she could look him in the face, smiling in what, he was sure, was supposed to be a kind way but was made frightening and sinister by the jagged teeth and eerie, cold blueness of her skin. The prince attempted a smile in return, but he was so distraught over the state of his castle, the ruining of his plans, and the utter _creepiness_ the Ice Queen projects that it became more of a pained baring of his teeth.

"You have it wrong," He attempts again, "I am not your dear _anything_." He clears his throat, the mere thought of being even remotely close to this she-demon causing the bile to rise, "And I have very important matters to attend to today, so if you would kindly release me I would certainly appreciate it."

"_Release_ you?" Her girlish titters become cackling laughter, "Oh dearest, surely you know I can't do that! You'd run away and then where would I be? I can't have my fiancé getting away from me! That would just be embarrassing." Gumball attempted to rub his palm down his face in exasperation but only succeeded in giving himself a blow to the face with his ice cuffs. He was in for a long, cold day.


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: **Sorry i didnt respond to your reviews last time guys i was just really really _really_ tired cuz i had come off of an overnight shift and posted before i went to sleep. anywho, thank you ALL so much and abiddon- i hadn't actually thought of the spakly vampires thing i just thought "what sort of prank would PG plan" And a whole mess of pink, glitter, and science popped into my head. but the sparkly vampire thing is now going to be put to use so thank you. and once again thanks to all my reviewers. the story is about to get a bit more serious in a minute. not so much this chapter but the next has some things that may be uncomfortable for people so yeah. i guess i'll put another warning up then

tl;dr YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING

* * *

She had obviously taken a long time to set up this debacle, Gumball was equal parts impressed and horrified. She had had her snow golems stuff him into a _blue tux_. _**Blue**_. Maybe blue worked for Fionna but it was positively not Gumball's color. Not at all. His attempts at trying to reason with the snow golems were also quite a disaster. Calmly he stated his case and pleaded to be let go only to be stared at with vapid eyes and a strange, babbling sort of nonsense. It was quite vexing, especially on top of his already frayed temper.

So there he stood, In a tux that made his skin look _purple_, freezing to his core, _handcuffed_ to the alter, and worst of all, his prank idea was going to waste and he needed to be rescued. _Again_. He released a frustrated breath and leaned down so he could massage the bridge of his nose to try to release the tension in his brain. Maybe he could figure a way out of this himself if he just had time to think. He heaved a great sigh and looked around. Everything was glittering, smooth, cold ice. Nothing that would help at all. Just then the door at the far end of the great hall he was standing in flew open.

Holding a white bouquet in her hand and smiling widely the Ice Queen began to slowly walk down the aisle, her white heels clicking on the icy floor. Gumball stared stupidly at the layers of chiffon and satin that draped ever so elegantly on the woman that he so despised. He had to admit she certainly picked a nice dress. Shaking those evil thoughts from his mind he stood rigid once more and turned away from the woman of his nightmares, crossing his arms as best as he could (which wasn't very effective at all) and glared crossly at the wall.  
One of the penguins was playing the typical song (rather poorly in Gumballs opinion; which only served to agitate him further) as the Ice Queen strutted herself down the aisle. He snuck another peek out of the corner of his eye. She was actually tearing up. The prince felt sick. She was_ happy_ at the prospect of a forced union. As she came to a stop next to the prince she beamed at him and he grimaced.

* * *

Marshall Lee was bored. Even in a bed that smelled of Fionna, sleeping in the candy kingdom was just weird. Like conversations-with-his-mom-about-sex weird, and it really doesn't get much more weird than that. So instead of restlessly turning over and over in a pink bed he decided to explore around the castle. If you replace "explore" with "snoop" and "the castle" with "Gumball's room" anyway. The vampire dug through the missing princes desk, searching, perhaps, for a diary or maybe some weird candy porn. Truth was, Marsh had no idea what he expected to find in the prissy princes pink bedroom.

He slammed the last drawer on the desk and huffed in annoyance. It was literally flawlessly organized. Not a pen out of place, nothing incriminating or naughty. He floated over to the bedside table and rifled through the drawer there and again came up empty handed. He scratched his head in thought, mindlessly looking around the room, eyes coming to rest on the closet.

* * *

Fionna huffed, out of breath after running at top speed towards the Ice Kingdom. _I don't remember the Ice Kingdom being so far away. This would go so much faster if only Cake were here._ She snapped her fingers.  
"Cake!" She sifted through the contents of her bag, searching for her communication crystal. Finding it she held it up and enthusiastically yelled Cake's name at it and a 3D projection of the cat appeared from it.

"Hi!" the projected feline began.

"Cake! I know you're with Mochro but-"

"If you're hearing this I'm unable to reach my crystal..." Fionna groaned and scrubbed a hand down her face. She chucked the useless crystal away from her (far, far away), strapped her back pack on, and resumed haulin' buns towards the Ice Kingdom and the prince in need of rescue.

* * *

The snow golem priest rambled on in it's gibberish while the Ice Queen tittered girlishly. The thing turned its massive, round head towards its master and mumbled something that was still incoherent. The woman tittered some more and blushed, turning her face demurely away from Gumball.

"I do."

The golem then repeated the same bunch of nonsense at the prince. He looked from a blank face to an expectant one and then back, unsure of what to say.

"Well?" The Ice Queen prompted him, growing impatient. Gumball frowned unhappily.

"I most _certainly_ do _not_ wish to marry you." The Ice Queen just laughed.

"Oh dear, of course you do! What a funny joke." She stroked his face and turned to the golem. "He does."

"I most certainly do not" His Gummy Majesty stated, pulling once again at his cuffs before the Ice Queen magically silenced him with some ice. More awkward noises meant to be words left the things mouth and frosty lips were being pressed to his, his face held in place by two ice-cold hands. He spluttered indignantly as she melted the alter and removed him bodily from the room. She began to climb the stairs with a struggling Gumball on her shoulders.

"Where are you taking me?" Gumball was becoming increasingly unsettled with every step upwards they took.

"Why to our love nest, Gummy Bear. Where else would we consummate our love?" She cooed at him. He shivered and fought back the urge to wretch. He was certain that Fionna was coming. She'd be here any minute now to stop this right? He shuddered again as the Ice Queens heels clacked on the last stair and he heard a door creak open.

* * *

He rooted through the closet throwing clothing everywhere. As he suspected, there was only one shirt (crammed into the very back of the closet by the way) that was not some shade pink or purple. It was the black one he'd given the candy royal, and it was shoved into the back of the closet to get all wrinkled and junk. Marshall tossed it over his shoulder to land with the other clothing. Next he moved to the dresser and again found _nothing_. He sighed and flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling, blowing at and playing with a piece of hair that fell in his face. Was the candied teen really, _really_ that perfect? He couldn't be. It's got to be some sort of illegal to not have _anything_ embarrassing to hide.

Just then the door started to open, probably the staff. However, Marshall certainly did not want to get caught going through the prissy boy's personal things so he quietly slipped under the bed while the maid went about cleaning up the royal chambers.

When the maid was gone and the coast was clear, Marshall Lee began to slide out from under the bed. His foot hit something and caused the stack of whtever-it-was to fall over._ Bingo._ The vampire rubbed his hands together in anticipation and then pulled the fallen stack of what he assumed was magazines out from under the bed.

And they were magazines. Marshall snorted and put a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. He leafed through the top one- which was dog-eared and tabbed and had little notes all over it- and with every note Marshall's laughter got a little less stifled untill he was rolling around in the air howling with laughter. His Royal Majesty of the Candy Kingdom secretly enjoyed_ lolita clothing_. No wonder he had Peps dress Fi in all those disgusting frills. He leafed through the rest of the magazines and laughed._ He's never going to hear the end of this!_


	31. Chapter 31

omg guys it's been about two months.i wish o had a good excuse but in reality it was a whole bunch of huge pity parties and making cosplay and being sick. literally I even feel a bit nauseous as I write this but I missed this

esorry and I missed you all my dear readers. this chapter isn't my favorite but I hope it's ok. please forgive my unintended and unannounced hiatus. hopefully I'll be back top regular updates now but I promise I won't give up this story till it's over!

* * *

The heroine finally made it to the edge of the Ice Kingdom; huffing and puffing though she may be, she was determined to save Gumball, even if it meant doing so by herself. She sighed. _By myself._ she shook her head, slapped her cheeks twice, fisted her hands by her side, catapulted herself over the clear boundary between kingdoms and pressed on with urgency. She had already left the gummy prince alone with that crazy cougar for too long. Who knew what was happening?

She ran the last few yards to the bottom of the ice mountain stronghold and launched herself at the door. she twisted in the air landing her feet solidly on the door and kicking heavily off. it screeched on its icy hinges which were giving way as it slowly fell in. There was a loud, resounding thump as it hit the ground and the blonde wasted no time in locating the stairs. two flights up she was holding her side and crawling on all fours. It really was much easier when cake just stretched them up to the window, but there was no time for that nonsense. She steeled herself again and continued her way up the stairs to find Gumball and beat up an old lady. Not necessarily in that order.

When she reached the main room of the ice castle ("Psh, castle my butt.") She heard the sound of glass shattering. She searched around and found that the noise came from up another flight of stairs.

"UGH! You've got to be flipping kidding me! Of all the days for Cake to flake..." She let her anger trail off seeing as talking wasn't getting her any closer to rescuing her bro. She scampered up the last flight of stairs to see Gumball flailing underneath a mostly-uncovered Ice Queen. The prince caught sight of her and gasped.

"Fionna!" The prince cried, caught between relief at her presence and embarrassment. The Ice Queen took his momentary distraction as an opportunity to slide one hand from his wrist and up his disheveled shirt. The prince, face flushed, bared his teeth angrily, shook her remaining hand from his wrists, and slapped the woman.

"Unhand me you frigid tart!" He shoved the stunned witch off of him and stood quickly. smoothing his shirt, he sniffed and then glanced down to the queen on the floor then to the girl in the doorway, whose sword had fallen to the side and she had a bewildered look on her face. It suddenly struck him that he had struck a woman. Him. The portrait of chivalry and grace. Even if she was evil he should not have struck her. His righteous anger faded and turned into disgust with himself. He looked to Fionna for comfort only to be met with her same shocked expression, which only served to make him feel worse.

"P-please excuse me," He said, briskly walking past the adventuress and out of the room to hide his upset.

"Uh, yeah dude, I'll be right out too, just gimme a sec." and Fi advanced on the queen in front of her rolling up her sleeves.

Marshall Lee, having grown bored of laughing at the magazines he found under Gumball's bed, began to wonder what the other two were up to. he checked the kitchens, and then Fi's quarters and then checked back at his royal hiney's bed chambers; down into the dungeons, out in the gardens, in the royal banquet hall and finally down into the science wing where he came upon what remained of Gumball's lab. he scrubbed a hand across his face in exasperation and flew out of the hole in the wall to go find the two idiots. Seriously, he couldn't leave them alone for even half a day without them doing something stupid. how was she planning on getting his candied butt home without him contracting freezer burn flu? but it was Fionna and she didn't think about things, she just did them.

He raced through the sky, hurtling towards the Ice kingdom. He hoped that Fionna hadn't had any trouble fending off the Cougar Queen's unwanted advances on everyone's favorite junior monarch. Usually she didn't, but usually she had Cake with her. as he sped towards the craggy ice fortress he passed two people on their way out, one on the others back and shivering heavily. He spiraled out of his current direction and silently doubled back to the two.

"Hey, need a lift?" he said sticking his tongue out at the younger pair. The prince frowned around chattering teeth while Fionna pumped a tired fist into the air, and let out a tired whoop. The playful vampire lifted the candy monarch up off the human's back and landed in front of her allowing her to climb up on his and he took off once again towards the candy kingdom.

Back at the palace, Fi saw the prince to doctor Ice Cream and then went to her rooms to take "an extreme nap". neither of the guys understood quite what an extreme nap entailed, or how it could possibly differ from a regular nap, not did they really care. Gumball was tired, and chilled, and very, very cross. Had Marshall Lee not continued this childish prank war with Fionna, Cake would have been around to help and none of this would have happened. at all. this was all that good for nothing vampires fault the prince thought to himself.

Marshall was hanging around awkwardly, not knowing what exactly he should do in this situation. He cleared his throat and Gumball leveled him with a disdainful glare.

"What did I do now?" Marshall's soft feeling from before quickly dissipated and he glared right back.

The prince just turned up his nose.

"Tch, whatever man. If this is the thanks I get for helping you out, you can bet I wont be doing it again. I'm out" and he disappeared.


	32. Letter to all my followers

I don't mean to be obnoxious but I just want to apologize again for taking so long to update. I've been just really depressed lately, and really anxious about everything, and also physically ill. I know that you guys have been waiting and I know that it sucks when you think a fic you like will never be updated but honestly I just couldn't write. I haven't been sleeping or eating well and its been because of/adding to my sickness. all around shit just... it just really sucks. and my best friend and I haven't been able to talk nearly as much as we used to. which may not seem like a huge deal but its really been affecting me, and my job has just been super stressful along with this move and just over all lack of funds for everything. i'm really sorry that I let anyone down and that I broke my schedule again and that I broke my promise of updating on time. my body and my state of mind have been preventing me from doing a lot of things I wanted to do and I just want you all to understand that. I mean do you just ever feel like you are the biggest piece of worthless crap for weeks on end? and that everything you do is meaningless and worthless? and crying doesn't help and the one you love the most cant help and then he feels like crap cuz he cant help and then you just feel worse and so on and so forth till all you do is sleep and go to your shitty job? that's been my life for the past two months. so please forgive me for my lack of updates, I missed you guys and I want to hug you all.

~NFE


End file.
